WSN13-2: Scalable OSPF Updates for MANETs

Recently, mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) have evolved as an irreplaceable networking technology for situations with sparse or inexistent infrastructure. Adapting OSPFv3 to MANET environments has several advantages. The protocol has proven its maturity in the wired Internet and is now the de facto standard Intra-AS routing protocol. When used in wireless ad hoc networks with proper extensions, OSPFv3 can provide better interoperation between the ad hoc domain and the Internet. This is one of the essential requirements for any ad hoc networks (including wireless mesh networks) that require connectivity to the Internet. The main challenge is that since OSPF is highly optimized for wired-oriented environment, it needs further enhancement to be fully functional in ad hoc scenarios. The most serious obstacle is the large routing overhead associated with the frequent topology changes due to volatile wireless links and node mobility. Various overhead reduction schemes have been proposed by focusing on how to reduce hello packets, flooding nodes, or the number of adjacencies. We propose a completely different approach by taking into account the very essential characteristics of wireless ad hoc networks - namely, distance effect. We implemented the proposed scheme on a simulator that uses the real OSPFv3 as its routing module. The simulation experiments prove that the proposed scheme allows significant reduction in OSPF routing overhead at small loss of route optimality.