Performance Comparison of Mobile Ad-hoc Network Routing Protocol

Ad hoc networks are characterized by multi-hop wireless connectivity, frequently changing network topology and the need for efficient dynamic routing protocols plays an important role. We compare the performance of two prominent on-demand routing protocols for mobile ad hoc networks: Dynamic Source Routing (DSR), Ad Hoc On-demand distance Vector Routing (AODV). A detailed simulation model with MAC and physical layer models is used to study the interlayer interactions and their performance implications. We demonstrate that even though DSR and AODV share similar on-demand behavior, the differences in the protocol mechanisms can lead to significant performance differentials. In this paper we examine two on demand routing protocols AODV and DSR based on packet delivery ratio, normalized routing load, normalized MAC load, average end to end delay by varying the number of sources, speed and pause time.