QoS routing based on multi-class nodes for mobile ad hoc networks

In this paper, we present a new quality of service (QoS) routing protocol for mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). Most of the existing routing protocols assume homogeneous nodes in MANETs, i.e., all nodes have the same communication capabilities and characteristics. However, in many ad hoc networks, nodes are not the same. Some nodes have longer transmission range, larger transmission bandwidth, and are more reliable and robust than other nodes. We take advantage of the non-homogeneous property to design more efficient QoS routing protocol. And node location information is used to aid routing. We also develop a new algorithm to calculate end-to-end bandwidth for a given path. Our QoS routing protocol contains end-to-end bandwidth calculation and bandwidth reservation. QoS route is discovered and setup only when it is needed. Extensive simulation studies demonstrate the good performance of the QoS routing protocol.