Efficient Route Discovery Algorithm for MANETs

On-demand routing protocols used in mobile ad hoc networks suffer from transmitting a huge number of control packets which increases the overhead. In this new algorithm (ERDA), we try to improve the route discovery algorithm by reducing the routing overhead in the presence of random traffic. ERDA broadcasts any route request travelling within their source node´s neighbourhood region according to the routing algorithm used. However, propagation of the route request is deliberately delayed outside this region to provide the associated chase packet with an opportunity to stop the fulfilled route request and minimise network congestion. The algorithm is adaptive and continuously updates the boundary of each source node´s neighbourhood to improve performance. We provide detailed performance evaluation using simulation modelling. Our result shows that ERDA improves the performance by minimizing the average end-to-end delay as well as the network overhead and congestion level.