Gugrajah_Yuvaan_ Ramesh_2003.pdf

Conclusion
Chapter 6
CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK
6.1. Dissertation Summary
Chapter 6
Ad hoc networks consist of mobile nodes that communicate wirelessly and achieve
peer-level connectivity by means of multihop paths. These networks are therefore
distributed and infrastructureless. The main focus of this dissertation has been on the
performance and evaluation of routing protocols for wireless ad hoc networks. This
work has been prompted by the potential for ad hoc networks to provide ubiquitous
computing and communication. The applications for ad hoc networks vary from
implementation in large-scale military scenarios to small personal area networks for
commercial mobile computing and Internet access. Among the issues that need to be
solved is the provision of adequate distributed and robust routing protocols that are
able to cope with rapidly changing topologies, high error rates and limited power
supplies.
The routing protocols are classified according to the method in which routes are
obtained. Routing protocols that maintain constantly updated tables are referred to
proactive routing protocols, while those that attempt to find routes only when routes
are required are referred to as reactive protocols. Comparative simulations conducted
by various researchers have shown that the reactive protocols are better suited to the
highly mobile environment of ad hoc networks. The proactive protocols are not able
to cope with constantly updating the tables and actually trigger more congestion in
the network. The proactive protocols do have their merits in small networks, but as
the size of the network grows, it becomes unfeasible to maintain global topological
VIews.
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