Performance evaluation and comparison of routing protocols in MANETs

A Mobile ad hoc network is a collection of mobile nodes connected through wireless links forming an temporary network without fixed topology, centralized access point, infrastructure. In such a network, each node can act as a router and host simultaneously, it can move out or join in the network freely as required. Various routing protocols have been discussed so far in this paper a brief comparison of two reactive protocols DSR and AODV along with proactive protocol DSDV will be done. Detail study of the network performance such as throughput, overhead, delay, pause time is done when position-based routing is used. As the node performance gets affected due to mobility and position error, the variation in performance are analyzed by use of varying simulation time. The simulations are carried out using NS-2 simulator. The results presented specify the importance in careful evaluation and implementation of routing protocols in an ad hoc environment.