Adaptive Multiple Metrics Routing Protocols for Heterogeneous Multi-Hop Wireless Networks

The calculation of path cost is a critical component of route discovery for network routing. The criteria used to represent path cost guides resource consumption in the network. In this paper, we describe our approach, a set of protocols based on our Multiple Metrics Routing Protocol (MMRP) for integrating hop count, energy consumption, and traffic load into the path cost calculation for ad hoc or multihop-cellular networks. Our initial aim is to select among multiple disjoint routes in order to maintain a low path cost, in terms of energy consumption and delay, without depleting resources at popular intermediate nodes. One extension of MMRP removes the constraint that only disjoint paths are considered and enables discovery of more optimal routes. A second extension includes adaptive adjustment of cost metrics to support device classification (e.g., energy capacity, bandwidth) in heterogeneous networks. We illustrate our approach with a simple example, followed by extensive simulation analysis. Results indicate that proper combination of multiple metrics for calculating path costs results in improved performance and lower overall system resource consumption as compared to AODV or energy efficient routing protocols.