A Multipath Cluster-Based Routing Protocol For Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

A MANET (Mobile Ad-hoc Network) is a group of mobile network nodes dynamically forming a network without any pre-existing infrastructure. Multi-path routing protocols in MANETs try to discover and use multiple routes between source and destination nodes. Multipath routing is typically used to reduce average delay, increase transmission reliability, provide load balancing among multiple routes, and improve security and overall QoS (Quality of Service). In this paper, the Cluster-Based Routing Protocol (CBRP), which is a single path MANET protocol is enhanced to use multiple paths. The traffic will be distributed among multiple paths to reduce network traffic congestion and decrease delay. An analytical model is used for multipath and single path CBRP routing protocols in MANETs to estimate the end-to-end delay and queue length. The analytical results show that the average delay and average queue length in multipath CBRP are less than the average delay and queue length in single path CBRP.