A resource-efficient QoS routing protocol for mobile ad hoc networks

The performance of existing QoS routing protocols is often constrained with high control traffic and database maintenance overhead. We observe that by proper coupling of nodal mobility and location information, better QoS support can be achieved with reduced control traffic and database requirements. In this paper, we investigate the performance of a location-aware QoS routing protocol, called trigger-based distributed routing (TDR), for mobile ad hoc networks. In this protocol, the nodal database size is reduced by maintaining only local neighborhood information, and route maintenance control overhead is kept low by maintaining only one route at a time for a session. Distributed rerouting control and directed alternate route discovery help reduce the rerouting control overhead and perform quicker route repair. Moreover, rerouting based on signal degradation history makes it possible to minimize the in-session route failure. Our evaluation shows that the TDR protocol has significantly better QoS support and reduced overhead requirements compared to the existing QoS routing protocols in ad hoc networks. Copyright  2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.