A Comprehensive Evaluation of Routing Protocols for Ordinary and Large-Scale Wireless MANETs

An ad hoc network (MANET) has no fixed networking infrastructure, and consists of mobile nodes that communicate with each other. Since nodes are mobile, Routing in ad hoc network is a challenging task. Efficient routing protocols can make better performance in such networks. In this study, the performance of several protocols such as Ad hoc on-demand Distance Vector (AODV), Dynamic Source Routing (DSR), Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR), and Geographic routing protocol (GRP) in various network conditions and with different packet size patterns is evaluated. Also, different MAC layers like 802.11b, 802.11g in ordinary and large-scale networks are considered. Different metrics like packet delivery ratio, end-to-end delay, Mac delay and Routing traffic received/sent, are applied. All simulations have been done using OPNET. In the following, all the parameters used for the simulation are described in details.