An efficient routing protocol for the QoS support of large-scale MANETs

Summary The hierarchical routing algorithm is categorized as a kind of routing method using node clustering to create a hierarchical structure in large-scale mobile ad hoc network (LMANET). In this paper, we proposed a new hierarchical clustering algorithm (HCAL) and a corresponded protocol for hierarchical routing in LMANET. The HCAL is designed based on a cost metric in the form of the link expiration time and node's relative degree. Correspondingly, the routing protocol for HCAL adopts a reactive protocol to control the existing cluster head (CH) nodes and handle proactive nodes to be considered as a cluster in LMANET. Hierarchical clustering algorithm jointly utilizes table-driven and on-demand routing by using a combined weight metric to search dominant set of nodes. This set is composed by link expiration time and node's relative degree to establish the intra/intercommunication paths in LMANET. The performance of the proposed algorithm and protocol is numerically evaluated in average end-to-end delay, number of CH per round, iteration count between the CHs, average CH keeping time, normalized routing overhead, and packet delivery ratio over a number of randomly generated benchmark scenarios. Furthermore, to corroborate the actual effectiveness of the HCAL algorithm, extensive performance comparisons are carried out with some state-of-the-art routing algorithms, namely, Dynamic Doppler Velocity Clustering, Signal Characteristic-Based Clustering, Dynamic Link Duration Clustering, and mobility-based clustering algorithms.