Abstract :
Abstract - Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) is a routing
protocol designed specifically for use in mobile ad hoc
networks. The protocol allows nodes to dynamically discover a
source route across multiple network hops to any destination in
the ad hoc network. The protocol is composed of the two
mechanisms of Route Discovery and Route Maintenance, which
work together to allow nodes to discover and maintain source
routes to arbitrary destinations in the ad hoc network. When
using source routing, each packet to be routed carries in its
header the complete, ordered list of nodes through which the
packet must pass. A key advantage of source routing is that
intermediate hops do not need to maintain routing information
in order to route the packets they receive, since the packets
themselves already contain all of the necessary routing
information. This, coupled with the dynamic, on-demand
nature of Route Discovery, completely eliminates the need for
periodic router advertisements and link status packets,
reducing the overhead of DSR, especially during periods when
the network topology is stable and these packets serve only as
keep-alives.
