A routing protocol for mobile ad-hoc networks using the profit optimization model

SUMMARYRecently, wireless networks have become one of the major development trends in computer network technology. Because there is no more need of the wired transmission medium, applications have thus diversified. One such growing field of wireless networks is the mobile ad‐hoc network (MANET). A MANET consists of mobile hosts (such as portable laptops, vehicles, etc.), and no fixed infrastructure is required. MANETs provide ease of self‐configuration and can extend coverage at a low cost. Numerous applications have therefore been proposed under this network environment for daily life use. Because MANETs nodes are capable of moving, MANET network topology changes frequently. Thus, the traditional routing protocols fail to fit such an environment. In this paper, we propose an efficient routing protocol for MANETs, which integrates the mathematical model of profit optimization (the Kelly formula) from the field of economics to cope with the routing problem caused by node mobility. Some numerical simulations have been conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed method using the network simulator NS‐2. The results show that our proposed method outperforms conventional routing protocols in packet delivery ratio comparisons; and the average end‐to‐end delays are within a tolerable range. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. In this paper, we propose an efficient routing protocol for mobile ad‐hoc networks, which integrates the mathematical model of profit optimization (the Kelly formula) from the field of economics to cope with the routing problem caused by node mobility. The simulation results show that our proposed method outperforms conventional routing protocols in packet delivery ratio comparisons; and the average end‐to‐end delays are within a tolerable range.