A framework for inter-domain routing in virtual coordinate based mobile networks

Routing is considered to be one the most challenging problems in mobile ad hoc networks. It has been shown that the use of virtual coordinates or identifiers for efficient routing and data management has several advantages compared to classical topology control techniques based on pre-defined addresses or geographical coordinates. However, these advantages only hold for single domain networks with limited mobility. In a previous paper, we discussed the challenges arising from using virtual coordinates for routing (to a particular destination ID or to indexed data or resources) in mobile networks in multi-domain network scenarios. We developed a solution by managing data with a distributed hash table scheme. Based on our virtual cord protocol, we then implemented inter-domain routing using appropriate indirections. That approach, however, was still limited in finding efficient routes over multiple transit networks. In this paper, we extend that work by defining a framework for optimized inter-domain routing. In particular, we investigate the use of ant colony optimization for optimizing routes between multiple network domains. We show how distributed routing tables can be created and maintained and we outline a heuristic for finding candidate routes. Simulation experiments confirm the efficiency of the selected routes both on a intra and on a inter-domain level.