Fuzzy Logic Based Reliable and Real-Time Routing Protocol for Mobile Ad hoc Networks

MANET (mobile ad-hoc network) includes a set of wireless mobile nodes which communicate with one another without any central controls or infrastructures and they can be quickly implemented in the operational environment. One of the most significant issues in MANETs is concerned with finding a secure, safe and short route so that data can be transmitted through it. Although several routing protocols have been introduced for the network, the majority of them just consider the shortest path with the fewest number of hops. Hop criterion is considered for simple implementation and it is reliable in dynamic environments; however, queuing delay and connection delay in the intermediate nodes are not taken into consideration for selecting route in this criterion. In this paper, a fuzzy logic-based reliable routing protocol (FRRP) is proposed for MANETs which selects stable routes using fuzzy logic. It is able to optimize system efficiency. The score allocated to routes are based on four criteria: accessible bandwidth, the amount of energy of battery, the number of hops and the degree of dynamicity of nodes. The simulation results obtained from OPNET simulator version 10.5 indicate that the proposed protocol, in comparison with ad hoc on-demand distance vector (AODV) and fuzzy-based on-demand routing protocol (FBORP), was able to better improve packet delivery rate, average end-to-end delay and throughput.