COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF MANET REACTIVE PROTOCOLS

Abstract

An Ad-hoc network is a group of mobile nodes. In an ad-hoc network a mobile node can directly communicate with the other node that lies in its transmission range or it can forward its information to the other node that will act as an intermediate node and forwards the information to the desired node using multi-hop links. In such a network there is no need of any infrastructure. Ad-hoc networks routing protocols are classified into two categories: Proactive/table-driven and reactive/on-demand. Reactive routing protocol is used whenever a communication is requested. There are two types of reactive protocols: AODV (Ad hoc ondemand distance vector protocol) and DSR (Dynamic source routing protocol). In one type of scenario one protocol may perform best while another may perform worst, so there is a need to determine an optimal one out of these in a more dynamic environment. The differences in the working of these protocols lead to significant performance differentials for both of these protocols.