Routing trade-offs in sparse and mobile heterogeneous multi-radio ad hoc networks

Ad-hoc routing protocols are generally not optimized for networks with mobile nodes having one or more heterogeneous radios. Our simulations of heterogeneous radio networks, using a proactive routing protocol, show that longrange and low bandwidth radios are beneficial up to the supported radio capacity. The benefit of long-range radios is their ability to provide consistent routes. Thus, short-range and high bandwidth radios should only carry the exceed traffic at high traffic load. Also, in a dual radio network it was found that at high traffic load and moderate mobility, reduced packet loss was achieved by manipulating the topology table by turning off some low capacity radios. This paper discusses and illustrates various trade-offs in determining which radio to select under different scenarios.