Load-aware on-demand routing (LAOR) protocol for mobile ad hoc networks

Most current routing protocols for mobile ad hoc networks consider the shortest path with minimum hop counts at the optimal route. However, the minimum end-to-end delay from source to destination may not always be achieved through this shortest path. In this paper, we propose an efficient delay-based load-aware on-demand routing (D-LAOR) protocol, which determines the optimal path based on the estimated total path delay and the hop count. We demonstrate the effectiveness of D-LAOR by integrating it with the ad hoc on-demand distance vector (AODV) routing protocol. Simulation results obtained suing the ns-2 network simulation platform, show that D-LAOR scheme increases packet delivery fraction and decreases end-to-end delay by more than 10% in a moderate network scenario when compared with the original AODV ad the other LAOR protocols.