MPR-aware performance improvement for inter-domain routing in MANETs

Inter-domain routing for MANETs (Mobile Ad Hoc Networks) draws increasing attention in military and civil application. It works on heterogeneous networking protocols, including different MAC layer protocols and routing layer protocols. It elects gateways within each domain, which in turn connect to other domains. In this paper, we propose several techniques to improve the performance of inter-domain routing. One key innovation in this paper is MPR-aware dynamic TDMA protocol. MPR (multipoint relay) information is exchanged to optimize the slot allocation algorithm and indirectly improve inter-domain performance. Another contribution of this paper is a new gateway election algorithm that accounts for TDMA performance and for connectivity with a CSMA domain. The proposed algorithm also exploits the MPR method embedded in OLSR intra-domain routing protocol, to get the knowledge of network topology and improve TDMA performance and gateway election. Simulation experiments show significant improvements in connectivity, inter-domain throughput and the reduction of control overhead.