Routing Protocols using Directional Antennas in Ad Hoc Networks: A Comparative Review

Directional antennas have the potential to provide a fundamental breakthrough in ad hoc network capacity. Omni-directional nature of transmission restricts the network capacity, where distribution of energy in all directions other than the intended direction of the destination node not only generated unnecessary interference to other neighboring nodes but also decreases the potential range of transmission. Directional antenna systems are increasingly being recognized as a powerful way of increasing the capacity, connectivity, and covertness of MANETs. In this paper, we survey the state-of-the-art routing protocols and give a comparison result of them with respect to the important challenging issues. We study the advantages and disadvantages of the routing protocols using directional antenna and also highlight performance issues of each routing technique. At the end, an explicit comparison table is presented and discussed.