Multi-Level Hierarchies for Scalable Ad hoc Routing

Ad hoc networks have the notable capability of enabling spontaneous networks. These networks are self-initializing, self-configuring, and self-maintaining, even though the underlying topology is often continually changing. Because research has only begun to scratch the surface of the potential applications of this technology, it is important to prepare for the widespread use of these networks. In anticipation of their ubiquity, the protocols designed for these networks must be scalable. This includes scaling to both networks with many nodes, and networks with rapidly changing topologies. This paper presents two hierarchical clustering protocols that improve the scalability of ad hoc routing protocols. The Adaptive Routing using Clusters (ARC) protocol creates a one-level clustered hierarchy across an ad hoc network, while the Adaptive Routing using Clustered Hierarchies (ARCH) protocol creates a multi-level hierarchy which is able to dynamically adjust the depth of the hierarchy in response to the changing network topology. It is experimentally shown that these protocols, when coupled with an ad hoc routing protocol, produce throughput improvements of up to 80% over the ad hoc routing protocol alone.