On-demand multipath distance vector routing in ad hoc networks

We develop an on-demand, multipath distance vector protocol for mobile ad hoc networks. Specifically, we propose multipath extensions to a well-studied single path routing protocol known as Ad hoc On-demand Distance Vector (AODV). The resulting protocol is referred to as Ad hoc On-demand Multipath Distance Vector (AOMDV). The protocol computes multiple loop-free and link-disjoint paths. Loop-freedom is guaranteed by using a notion of "advertised hopcount". Link-disjointness of multiple paths is achieved by using a particular property of flooding. Performance comparison of AOMDV with AODV using ns-2 simulations shows that AOMDV is able to achieve a remarkable improvement in the end-to-end delay-often more than a factor of two, and is also able to reduce routing overheads by about 20%.