Routing in Ad Hoc Networks Using Ant Colony Optimization

Abstract

An Ad Hoc network is a network in which a group of mobile nodes that wish to communicate may self organize. The ad hoc networks have dynamic topology and are infrastructure less. So it is required to implement a new network protocol for pro- viding efficient end to end communication based on TCP/IP protocol suite. There is a need to re-de ne or modify the functions of each layer of conventional model to provide end to end communication between nodes. The mobility of the nodes and the limited resources are the main reason for this change. The main challenge in ad hoc networks is routing. Due to the mobility of the nodes in the ad hoc networks, routing becomes very difficult. Ant based algorithms are suitable for routing in ad hoc networks due to their dynamic nature and adaptive behavior. There are a number of routing algorithms based on the concept of Ant Colony Optimizations. It is quite difficult to determine the best ant based algorithm for routing as these algorithms perform di erently under various circumstances such as the traffic distribution and network topology. So, the goal of this project is to build an efficient hybrid routing algorithm for ad hoc networks.This report contains an introduction to the Ad Hoc Networks and ACO, literature survey of various routing algorithms for the Ad Hoc Networks, de nition of reactive, proactive and hybrid protocols, details of ACO based hybrid routing algorithm and the implementation of this algorithm using GloMoSim simulator, with the help of which I have achieved the nal objective of thesis which is an efficient routing between the source and destination nodes. The performance of this new algorithm is compared with the existing hybrid routing algorithms for Ad Hoc Networks.