Proactive routing protocols for a MANET — A review

Mobile Ad-hoc networks (MANET) are distributed systems that consist of digital data terminals such as mobiles that communicate with each other without the help of any established networking infrastructure. These nodes are connected through a wireless medium forming dynamic topologies. Each device in a MANET is free to move independently and hence changes its links with other devices frequently. Since the nodes in a MANET are mobile, the efficiency and power consumptions are critical issues. Several proactive routing protocols have been proposed to improve the efficiency and power management in a MANET. Some of these protocols include destination sequenced distance vector routing, wireless routing, global state routing, fisheye state routing, hierarchical state routing, cluster gateway switch routing, source tree adaptive routing etc. The aim of this paper is to understand what is a MANET and the various techniques used in broadcasting data through a MANET. The important features and detailed working of each of these protocols are discussed. The results of various protocols are compared and summarized.