Method for routing packets in wireless ad-hoc networks with probabilistic delay guarantees

A method determines an optimal route to deliver a packet from a source node via relay nodes to a destination node in a network. A graph of nodes connected by edges represents possible routes in the network. A probability that the packet arrives at the destination before a deadline time is assigned to each edge. A minimal delay route is selected from the possible routes, and an arrival time for delivering the packet using the minimal delay route is determined. The arrival time is comparing to a deadline time, and the probabilities are scaled accordingly until the minimal delay route is an optimal route.