Path verification for robust, instantaneous loop-free routing in ad hoc networks

We present path verification routing (PVR) to enable robust, instantaneous on-demand loop-free routing of data packets based on their destination address in mobile ad hoc networks. PVR attains instantaneous loop-freedom by using a path verification technique without the necessity for sequence numbers, source-routed data packets, or nodal synchronization. The motivation for PVR is twofold. On the one hand, DSR provides loop-free routing but requires source routed data packets. On the other hand, AODV, which is based on destination-based sequence numbers, is vulnerable to the counting-to-infinity problem and has route requests that in many cases must be answered by the destinations. Simulation experiments are used to show that the performance of PVR is comparable to or better than that of AODV, AODVbis, DSR and OLSR.