Enhancing packet forwarding in Mobile Ad hoc Networks by exploiting the Information Dispersal Algorithm

A Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) is a transitory, dynamic, decentralised, self-organised and infrastructure-less network. This unique nature introduced new challenges in the security research field such that it became imperative to design new security mechanisms that suit these characteristics. The proposed work contributes to the problem of securing data forwarding in the network layer; this is accomplished through exploiting the redundancy of multi-path routing for forwarding data packets. To maximise the possibility of successful delivery to a destination, each node generates a table with a reliability index for each of its neighbour without performing neighbourspsila monitoring; based on that reliability value, sending/receiving traffic is prioritised. This work evaluates the effectiveness of REliable and Efficient Forwarding (REEF) using the Information Dispersal Algorithm (IDA), REEF-IDA; the conducted simulation shows that REEF-IDA outperforms REEF in which it increases the throughput of the network while it decreases both end-to-end delays and packet loss ratio.