Hierarchical time-vector-routing for mobile ad hoc networks

A new routing algorithm called hierarchical time-vector-routing is presented. The algorithm presumes that the network is divided into logical clusters. In each cluster a so-called central controller stores the routing information and exchanges it with its neighbouring central controllers. Each routing entry contains a time vector which is used to react to dynamic topology changes and to minimise the amount of exchanged routing information. The presented algorithm is well suited for mobile ad hoc networks. The algorithm has been especially designed for a centralised ad hoc network based on the HIPERLAN/2 standard but may be used in any ad hoc network configuration. The performance of the algorithm is analytically compared to the performance of the dynamic source routing protocol