Wireless routing protocol for ad-hoc networks

A method of determining an efficient route between a source node and a destination node in an ad-hoc network using a hybrid routing protocol, comprising:

• providing a network comprising a plurality of network communication nodes, the plurality of network communications nodes comprising at least one source node and at least one destination node;
• determining at least one communications route between the source node and the destination node using the hybrid routing protocol based on changing dynamics of the ad-hoc network;
• calculating a quality of service (QoS) metric for each communications route between the source node and the destination node wherein the QoS metric for each communications route is based on QoS information received via a network layer or an application layer from one or more nodes associated with the communications route;
• and
• selecting the communications route with the best QoS metric.

A system for determining a route between a source node and a destination node within an ad-hoc network, comprising:

• a neighbor discovery protocol (NDP) operable for:
• locating each node within one hop of every other node;
• storing the results of the location of each node within one hop of every other node as a result of the NDP in a neighbor table;
• a proactive routing protocol (PRP) operable for:
• reading the results stored in the neighbor table and collecting routing information about the non-neighbor nodes in the routing zone around the source node;
• establishing at least one proactive route between the source node and each node within the routing zone;
• and
• calculating a cumulative quality of service (QoS) metric for each proactive route;
• determining which proactive route to each node has the lowest QoS metric;
• and
• storing the proactive routes and associated QoS metrics for the proactive routes between the source node and each node with the lowest QoS metric in a proactive routing table;
• and
• determining which nodes within the routing zone are border nodes;
• a reactive routing protocol (RRP) operable for
• establishing a reactive route between at least one of the border nodes and the destination node based on changing dynamics of the ad-hoc network, wherein the destination node is outside the routing zone;
• calculating a cumulative QoS metric for each reactive route wherein the QoS metric for each reactive route is based on QoS information received via a network layer or an application layer from one or more nodes associated with the reactive route;
• and
• a management process operable for:
• retrieving the proactive routes and associated QoS metrics from the source node to the at least one of the border nodes from the proactive routing table;
• and
• combining the QoS metric associated with the proactive route to a selected border node with the QoS metric associated with the reactive route from the selected border node to the destination node to create a cumulative QoS metric for each route from the source node to the destination node:
• and
• selecting the route from the source node to the destination node that has the best cumulative QoS metric.

A method for locating a route in an ad-hoc network, comprising:

• dynamically defining a routing zone for a source node, wherein the routing zone includes a plurality of border zones;
• selecting a route between the source node and a destination node by:
• determining whether the destination node is within the routing zone;
• if the destination node is not within the routing zone, then bordercasting a route request to each of the border nodes requesting the border nodes transmit a route request message to the destination node using a reactive routing protocol (RRP) based on changing dynamics of the ad-hoc network;
• for at least two of the border nodes:
• receiving a route reply from the destination node, the route reply comprising a hop count and a quality of service (QoS) metric for each hop count for the route between the border node and the destination node;
• determining a route between the source node and the border node using a proactive routing protocol (PRP);
• and
• calculating a cumulative QoS metric for the route from the source node through the border node to the destination node wherein the QoS metric for the route is based on QoS information received via a network layer or an application layer from one or more nodes associated with the route;
• comparing the cumulative QoS metrics for the routes from the source node through at least two border nodes to the destination;
• and
• selecting the route having the lowest cumulative QoS metric.