Impact of node density on the performance of ad hoc routing protocols

An ad hoc network comprises of mobile computing devices that use wireless transmission for communication. It has no fixed infrastructure. The mobile devices also serve as routers. Ad hoc wireless networks can be deployed quickly anywhere and anytime as they eliminate the complexity of infrastructure setup. It finds applications in military communications, emergency operations, hybrid wireless network architectures and wireless mesh networks. A variety of routing protocols for ad hoc networks has been proposed in the past. The routing protocols are broadly classified into Proactive, Reactive and Hybrid protocols. This paper evaluates the performance of FSR (Proactive), AODV (Reactive) and ZRP (Hybrid) routing protocols using qualnet simulator.