On-demand loop-free routing in ad hoc networks using source sequence numbers

In any on-demand routing protocol, sources flood route requests (RREQ) to build routes to destinations, and each new RREQ is identified uniquely with a source-sequenced label (SSL) consisting of the source identifier and a locally generated sequence number. As a RREQ propagates, it creates a directed acyclic graph (DAG), because nodes relay each RREQ only once. We present the first framework for loop-free on-demand routing in ad hoc networks that is based directly on SSLs, rather than on independent mechanisms, which has been the way in which prior on-demand routing protocols have been designed. Extensive simulation results for simple protocol instantiations of our new framework operating in scenarios with 50 and 100-nodes under different traffic patterns show that our new protocols outperform AODV (Ad hoc on demand distance vector), DSR (dynamic source routing), and OLSR (optimized link state routing)