Ad Hoc Routing:

The AODV and DSR Protocols

Jonathan Sevy
Geometric and Intelligent Computing Lab
Drexel University
[Link]
 Routing Overview
• Network with nodes, edges
• Goal: Devise scheme for
transferring message from
one node to another
msg

– Which path?
– Who decides – source or
intermediate nodes?
 Which path?
• Generally try to optimize something:
– Shortest path (fewest hops)
– Shortest time (lowest latency)
– Shortest weighted path (utilize available
bandwidth)
– Etc…
 Who determines route?
Two general approaches:
• Source (“path”) routing
– Source specifies entire route: places complete
path to destination in message header: A – D –
F–G
– Intermediate nodes just forward to specified
next hop: D would look at path in header,
forward to F
– Like airline travel – get complete set of tickets
to final destination before departing…
• Destination (“hop-by-hop”) routing
– Source specifies only destination in message
header: G
– Intermediate nodes look at destination in
header, consult internal tables to determine
appropriate next hop
– Like postal service – specify only the final
destination on an envelope, and intermediate
post offices select where to forward next…
 Comparison
• Source routing • Destination routing
– Moderate source – No source storage
storage (entire route – High intermediate node
for each desired dest.) storage (table w/
– No intermediate node routing instructions for
storage all possible dests.)
– Higher routing – Lower routing
overhead (entire path overhead (just dest in
in message header, header, only routers
route discovery need deal w/ route
messages) discovery)
 Ad Hoc Routing
• Every node participates in routing: no
distinction between “routers” and “end
nodes”
• No external network setup: “self-
configuring”
• Especially useful when network topology is
dynamic (frequent network changes – links
break, nodes come and go)
 Common application
• Mobile wireless hosts
– Only subset within range at given time
– Want to communicate with any other node
 Ad Hoc Routing Protocols
• Standardization effort led by IETF Mobile
Ad-hoc Networks (MANET) task group
– [Link]
.html
– 9 routing protocols in draft stage, 4 drafts
dealing with broadcast / multicast / flow issues
• Other protocols being researched
– utilize geographic / GPS info, ant-based
techniques, etc.
 Leading MANET Contenders
• DSR: Dynamic Source Routing
– Source routing protocol
• AODV: Ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector
Routing
– “Hop-by-hop” protocol

• Both are “on demand” protocols: route

information discovered only as needed
 Dynamic Source Routing
• Draft RFC at
[Link]
-[Link]
• Source routing: entire path to destination
supplied by source in packet header
– Utilizes extension header following standard IP
header to carry protocol information (route to
destination, etc.)
 DSR Protocol Activities
• Route discovery
– Undertaken when source needs a route to a
destination
• Route maintenance
– Used when link breaks, rendering specified
path unusable
• Routing (easy!)
 Route Discovery
• Route Request:
– Source broadcasts Route Request message for
specified destination
– Intermediate node:
• Adds itself to path in message
• Forwards (broadcasts) message toward destination
• Route Reply
– Destination unicasts Route Reply message to
source
• will contain complete path built by intermediate nodes
 Details, details…
• Intermediate nodes cache overheard routes
– “Eavesdrop” on routes contained in headers
– Reduces need for route discovery
• Intermediate node may return Route Reply to source
if it already has a path stored
– Encourages “expanding ring” search for route

• Destination may need to discover route to source to deliver Route Reply

– piggyback Route Reply onto new Route Request to prevent “infinite loop”
• Route Request duplicate rejection:
– Source includes identification number in Route Request
– Partial path inspected for “loop”
 Route Maintenance
• Used when link breakage occurs
– Link breakage may be detected using link-layer ACKs,
“passive ACKs”, DSR ACK request
– Route Error message sent to source of message being
forwarded when break detected
– Intermediate nodes “eavesdrop”, adjust cached routes
– Source deletes route; tries another if one cached, or issues
new Route Request
• Piggybacks Route Error on new Route Request to clear
intermediate nodes’ route caches, prevent return of invalid route
 Issues
• Scalability
– Discovery messages broadcast throughout
network
• Broadcast / Multicast
– Use Route Request packets with data included
• Duplicate rejection mechanisms prevent “storms”
– Multicast treated as broadcast; no multicast-tree
operation defined
• Scalability issues
– [Link]
[Link]
 Ad-hoc On-demand Distance
Vector Routing
• Draft RFC at
[Link]
-[Link]
• “Hop-by-hop” protocol: intermediate nodes
use lookup table to determine next hop
based on destination
• Utilizes only standard IP header
 AODV Protocol Activities
• Route discovery
– Undertaken whenever a node needs a “next
hop” to forward a packet to a destination
• Route maintenance
– Used when link breaks, rendering next hop
unusable
• Routing (easy!)
 Route Discovery
• Route Request:
– Source broadcasts Route Request (RREQ)
message for specified destination
– Intermediate node:
• Forwards (broadcasts) message toward destination
• Creates next-hop entry for reverse path to source, to
use when sending reply (assumes bidirectional link…)
• Route Reply
– Destination unicasts Route Reply (RREP)
message to source
• RREP contains sequence number, hop-count field
(initialized to 0)
• Will be sent along “reverse” path hops created by
intermediate nodes which forwarded RREQ
– Intermediate node:
• Create next-hop entry for destination as RREP is
received, forward along “reverse path” hop
• Increment hop-count field in RREP and forward
– Source:
• If multiple replies, uses one with lowest hop count
 Details again…
• Each node maintains nondecreasing sequence number
– Sent in RREQ, RREP messages; incremented with each
new message
– Used to “timestamp” routing table entries for “freshness”
comparison
• Intermediate node may return RREP if it has routing
table entry for destination which is “fresher” than
source’s (or equal with lower hop count)

• Routing table entries assigned “lifetime”, deleted on expiration

• Unique ID included in RREQ for duplicate rejection
 Route Maintenance
• Used when link breakage occurs
– Link breakage detected by link-layer ACK, “passive
ACK”, AODV “Hello” messages
• Detecting node may attempt “local repair”
– Send RREQ for destination from intermediate node
• Route Error (RERR) message generated
– Contains list of unreachable destinations
– Sent to “precursors”: neighbors who recently sent
packet which was forwarded over broken link
• Propagated recursively
 Issues
• Scalability
– No inherent “subnetting” provision in routing
tables – one entry per destination
• Directionality
– Assumes there is at least one bidirectional path
between any two nodes
 Issues (cont.)
• Multicast
– True multicast-tree generation and maintenance
– Detailed in supplementary (expired…) draft:
[Link]
[Link]
• Broadcast
– Suggested use of IP Ident field for duplicate detection
– [Link]
[Link]
 Protocol Performance Tests
• “A Performance Comparison of Multi-Hop Wireless Ad
Hoc Network Rotuing Protocols”, D. Johnson et al.,
MobiCom ’98 Proceedings.
– By the creators of DSR

• “Performance Comparison of Two On-Demand Routing

Protocols for Ad Hoc Networks”, C. Perkins et al., IEEE
Personal Communications, February 2001.
– By the creators of AODV

• Both used ns-2 simulator, simulated 802.11 link layer

 Johnson et al
• Compared DSR, AODV, DSDV, TORA
– Varied number of sources, node mobility, traffic load
• 50 nodes total, 64-byte data packets
– Looked at packet delivery ratio, routing overhead
• Conclusions:
– DSR, AODV similar on packet delivery ratio
– DSR much lower routing traffic overhead (excluding
DSR’s routing header extension in each data packet)
– TORA, DSDV performed very poorly in certain
situations (low packet delivery ratio)
 Perkins et al
• Compared DSR and AODV
– Varied number of sources, node mobility, traffic load
• 50 and 100 nodes, 512-byte data packets
– Looked at packet delivery ratio, packet delay, routing
overhead, total network throughput
• Conclusions:
– DSR outperforms with fewer nodes, lower traffic load, less
node mobility
– AODV outperforms when have more nodes, higher traffic
load, greater node mobility
• DSR always lower routing overhead (excluding routing header)
• DSR poor delivery ratio when many nodes, many sources, high
mobility
 Linux Implementations
• DSR
– Sourceforge “PicoNet” project (bad name choice… ),
Alex Song:
[Link]
• AODV
– NIST “Kernel AODV” implementation, Luke
Klein-Berndt:
[Link]