Simulation based Comparative Study of MANET Routing Protocols

Mobile Adhoc Networks (MANET) is an infrastructure less mobile network where the nodes communicate with each other inspite of frequent changes in network topology due to mobility, interference and highly error prone environment. Each node operates not only as an end system but also as a router to forward packets. The nodes are liberated to travel and systematize themselves into a network. The vision of mobile adhoc networking is to support robust and efficient operation in mobile wireless networks by incorporating routing functionality into mobile nodes. This paper analyzes the performance of three routing protocols AODV, DSR, DSDV based on Packet Delivery ratio, Packet drop, Energy Consumed, Control overhead and routing overhead using the Discrete Event Simulator [NS2.35-Network Simulator version 2.35]. The results show that the performance of AODV and DSR is better than DSDV.