HYMAD: Hybrid DTN-MANET Routing for Dense and Highly Dynamic Wireless Networks

TL;DR

HYMAD is a hybrid routing protocol combining DTN and MANET techniques, effectively handling networks with dynamic connectivity by adapting to changing patterns and outperforming traditional DTN protocols in delivery ratio and delay.

Contribution

This paper introduces HYMAD, a novel hybrid routing protocol that integrates DTN and MANET strategies for improved performance in highly dynamic wireless networks.

Findings

HYMAD outperforms Spray-and-Wait in delivery ratio and delay.

HYMAD maintains low overhead and adapts to connectivity changes.

Simulation results validate HYMAD's effectiveness in real and synthetic mobility scenarios.

Abstract

Delay/Disruption-Tolerant Network (DTN) protocols typically address sparse intermittently connected networks whereas Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET) protocols address the fairly stable and fully connected ones. But many intermediate situations may occur on mobility dynamics or radio link instability. In such cases, where the network frequently splits into evolving connected groups, none of the conventional routing paradigms (DTN or MANET) are fully satisfactory. In this paper we propose HYMAD, a Hybrid DTN-MANET routing protocol which uses DTN between disjoint groups of nodes while using MANET routing within these groups. HYMAD is fully decentralized and only makes use of topological information exchanges between the nodes. The strength of HYMAD lies in its ability to adapt to the changing connectivity patterns of the network. We evaluate the scheme in simulation by replaying synthetic and real life mobility traces which exhibit a broad range of connectivity dynamics. The results show that HYMAD introduces limited overhead and outperforms the multi-copy Spray-and-Wait DTN routing protocol it extends, both in terms of delivery ratio and delay. This hybrid DTN-MANET approach offers a promising venue for the delivery of elastic data in mobile ad-hoc networks as it retains the resilience of a \textit{pure} DTN protocol while significantly improving performance.