Augmenting OLSR with Priority Aware Dynamic Routing for heterogeneous networking

Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) has many advantages over other routing protocols for use within MANETs. However, it also has its limitations and cannot easily adapt in real time to the highly dynamic nature of heterogeneous military MANETs. This paper discusses the augmentation of OLSR with a reactive routing algorithm referred to as Priority Aware Dynamic Routing (PADR). PADR along with OLSR forms a hybrid routing approach where routes may be chosen based on metrics that are difficult to account for by proactive routing alone; such as mobility, changing mission needs, dynamic resource allocation, and RF contention. The proposed hybrid approach is designed to operate at the cipher text IP layer and is capable of routing over a single MANET subnet or over multiple heterogeneous subnets.