Enhanced DSR for MANET with Improved Secured Route Discovery and QoS

Mobile Ad hoc NETwork (MANET) comprises of nodes, which are free to move randomly, yet cooperate to forward packets between source and destination over a multi-hop wireless network. Due to absence of any fixed node, each node acts as a router, providing routing capability for the MANET. Various protocols for discovery of routes between any two MANET nodes have been designed. These protocols are broadly categorized as on-demand protocols and table driven protocols. Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) and Ad-hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV) are the two most matured on-demand routing protocols, while Optimized Link State Routing Protocol (OLSR) and Topology Dissemination Based on Reverse-Path Forwarding (TBRPF) are the two most matured table driven routing protocols. This paper proposes enhancements in DSR to provide secured route discovery and improved QoS. The paper evaluates integration of Secured Routing Protocol (SRP) and Secured Message Transmission (SMT) with DSR to get Secured Dynamic Source Routing (S-DSR), which is capable of secured route discovery. The proposed extension also incorporates concurrent usage of multiple cached routes for improved throughput and explores possible enrichment to route cache management resulting in improved efficiency. A novel idea of proactive route discovery, particularly for high and sustained bandwidth dependent applications like video conference, voice over IP etc., has been proposed. The paper finally concludes with remarks on a possible comprehensive SDSR protocol, incorporating better route cache maintenance scheme, proactive route discovery and integration of SRP/SMT features for secured route discovery and secured data transmission.