Ant colony optimization for routing in mobile ad hoc networks

Routing algorithm is a pivotal technology for ad hoc networks, in this paper, an algorithm for routing in mobile ad hoc networks based on ideas from the ant colony optimization (ACO-AHR) is proposed. Using ACO principle, available pheromone ratio of ant agent release is firstly proposed and applied to routing algorithm, and according to multi-agent mechanism, introduces the service agents to reduce the expense of ant agents. This algorithm is a hybrid algorithm that combines reactive path setup with proactive path probe and maintain. Finally, the simulating results show that ACO-AHR is effective.