Recent advancements, review analysis, and extensions of the AODV with the illustration of the applied concept

Abstract Mobile ad hoc networks provide a promising opportunity for the applications requiring instant networking in the resource constraint, multi-hop wireless environment. Routing protocols are the backbone of such networks to enable the routing under dynamic circumstances. Ad hoc on-demand distance vector routing protocol (AODV) is the predominant reactive routing protocol designed for mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). It provides good performance in terms of hop count, packet delivery ratio, and control overhead in the network. AODV has an extensive research spectrum. Many variants of the protocol have been proposed by the researchers to achieve performance improvements and to address the variety of challenges. As there are hundreds of AODV related extensions, a systematic illustration is worth to present. In this review paper, we elaborate on the core of the protocol and discuss the evolution, its variants, extensions, and the applied concepts for improving the protocol. We have surveyed the broad domain of AODV extensions and have classified them based on the various criteria, e.g., quality, reliability, energy, security, and routing strategies, etc. This paper brings out the concept, design objective, research trends, and the current advancements in the research carried out for AODV improvement. Paper also summarizes various aspects of the research trends and portrays performance metrics, input parameters, applicable domains, and the adopted strategies for improving the protocol.