A layered cluster based routing for an ad hoc environment

The intrinsic characteristics of ad hoc networks, such as the frequent connectivity changes and the strict bandwidth and power constraints, impose further challenges, especially for routing tasks. Besides, existing routing algorithms devoted to ad hoc networks and based on proactive or reactive schemes suffer from scalability due to their intrinsic mechanisms. The control overhead induced by routing packets is a primary factor, since it increases with the number of nodes, especially in large and dense networks evolving in a dynamic environment. Relying on a virtual infrastructure seems a promising approach to overcome the scalability problem. The basic idea consists on assigning additional tasks to a limited set of dominating nodes, satisfying specific requirements. In this paper, we present a routing algorithm, which exploits the benefits of our clustering algorithm TBCA. Conducted simulations show the ability of our new approach to reduce the control overhead and improve the reactivity of routing to the topology changes.