Identification of Stable Links in MANETs

Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANET) are characterized by a highly dynamic topology as a consequence of the frequent and unpredictable changes in the link states. Routing protocols must cope with this eventuality so when routes in use break, they should discover alternative paths to keep the on-going communications active. The procedures to discover new routes commonly provoke a significant amount of control packets which may induce losses and delay to the data packets. Therefore, the network performance could benefit from the techniques that avoid these route discovery procedures. In this sense, a practical strategy is the use of the links that are expected to endure longer. Basing on an analytical model, this paper presents a technique to identify the most stable links. The evaluation in an autonomous MANET connected to the Internet shows the goodness of the proposed criterion.