Design and Development of ACO Routing Protocol for MANETs

Abstract

Due to their wide applicability in wide range of application, Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETs) in recent years have gained a lot of attention MANETs can operate without any existing fixed infrastructure and have rapid changes in the network topology. Preparing and maintaining the routing table in communication networks, especially in MANETs, is a challenging task. Nodes dynamics in MANETs make the management of routing tables a complex job to be carried out. There exist many solutions for the routing problem in MANETs; each one having its advantages and limitations. These existing solutions need to be improved to achieve better performance with respect to various parameters. In fact, there is a new generation of bio-inspired routing protocols that have the potential to provide better performance than traditional protocols with the help of moving agents. Agents collaborate with each other to update the routing table quickly with less delay. Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) is one of the most interesting bio inspired metaheuristics technique. It simulates ant behavior to solve complex combinatorial problems. ACO algorithms include the method of optimization and reinforcement learning. ACO algorithms are decentralized, robust and resilient. These features make ants a good choice for taking routing decisions; where not only shorter paths need to be found, but also there is a need to achieve higher performance and greater reliability over the traditional protocols. It has been observed that ant algorithms influence the performance of the network due to their self organization characteristics. The main contribution of this thesis is to design and develop new ant colony algorithms. The thesis contribution includes the blueprint and formulation of new ant-based algorithms for routing in MANETs. The presented framework has implemented using the novel ant routing algorithms in a simulated network. The experimental results show that ACO algorithms are well suited to the environment of MANETs.