Evaluating the performance impact of protocol parameters on ad-hoc network routing protocols

Routing protocols are used to discover, maintain, and repair routes between pairs of nodes in wireless ad-hoc networks. In order to handle dynamic network topologies caused by node mobility, many routing protocols are designed with multiple features and parameters to effectively discover routes and to quickly detect link breaks. In this paper, we compare the performance of four popular routing protocols, AODV, DYMO, OLSR and HWMP, in terms of the Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR) metric, and analyse the various reasons for packet loss in scenarios where nodes are mobile. We also explore key protocol parameters and how their choice impacts the protocol performance. Based on our simulation results, we find that the way in which protocols detect link breaks is critical for overall network performance. We therefore specifically explore how the choice of link break detection parameters can improve protocol performance. We further explore other protocol variations and features and their potential for performance improvements.