A hybrid protocol for identification of a maximal set of node disjoint paths in mobile Ad hoc networks

Identifying a maximal set of node-disjoint paths between a given source and a destination is a challenging task in mobile ad hoc networks. One cannot guarantee to identify the maximal set of node-disjoint paths in a single sequence of request-reply cycle. However, one can guarantee to identify a maximal set of node-disjoint paths in an incremental fashion using multiple route discoveries. In this paper, we present a protocol that adopts an approach that is a hybrid of the approaches taken by a protocol that tries to identify multiple node-disjoint paths in a single go and a protocol that identifies them incrementally. Our approach preserves the guarantee to discover a maximal set of node-disjoint paths between a given source and a destination. Further, we have shown that our approach is scalable and it requires less number of route discoveries than that required by an incremental protocol.