REAR: A radio environment adaptive routing protocol for CR Mobile Ad hoc Networks

This paper proposes a cross-layer wireless routing protocol called REAR (Radio Environment Adaptive Routing Protocol), which operates with Cognitive Radio (CR) Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (CRMANET). Unlike conventional on-demand routing protocols for ad hoc networks, the design of REAR allows nodes along the route to adjust the next hop according to real-time radio environment conditions during the transmission. This flexibility benefits the communication by reducing the risk of link breaks in the CRMANET and so improves the overall network performance and spectrum utilization. Simulation results show that, compared to DSR [2] and CRMBR [8], REAR provides higher robustness in a rapid changing ad hoc environment. Therefore the overall network throughput is improved with reduced end-to-end delay.