A modeling framework for multipath routing in ad hoc networks

Multipath routing in mobile ad hoc networks has recently received more research efforts, where more than one route will be searched and maintained between every source-destination pair. Compared with traditional single-path routing, utilizing multiple paths in parallel would be of benefit to reduce end-to-end delivery delay as well as to split traffic for load balancing to achieve better utilization of bandwidth resource under moderate traffic load. Besides, multipath routing will enhance routing robustness in the sense of lengthening route lifetime. In this paper, we propose an analytical modeling framework to investigate multipath routing in ad hoc/multihop networks. The single-path model is considered as a multi-node M/M/1 tandem network with several congestion queues, and multiple paths can be viewed as several parallel rays originating from the focus of a convex lens. This proposed framework allows us to investigate issues such as optimal load distribution, end-to-end delivery delay and multipath routing reliability in ad hoc networks. Due to the flexibility, our modeling framework is applicable for heterogeneous network as well as homogeneous case