Routing in ad hoc networks: a case for long hops

For multihop wireless networks, a fundamental question is whether it is advantageous to route over many short hops (short-hop routing) or over a smaller number of longer hops (long-hop routing). Short-hop routing has gained a lot of support, and its proponents mainly produce two arguments: reduced energy consumption and higher signal-to-interference ratios. Both arguments stem from a simplified analysis based on crude channel models that neglects delay, end-to-end reliability, bias power consumption, the impact of channel coding, mobility, and routing overhead. In this article we shed more light on these issues by listing 18 reasons why short-hop routing is not as beneficial as it seems to be. We also provide experimental evidence to support this claim. The conclusion is that for many networks, long-hop routing is in every aspect a very competitive strategy.