Performance Evaluation of DSR for MANETs with Channel Fading

Due to the fact that it does not rely on any infrastructure to operate, Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) have been experiencing an exponential period of interest and potential application. In these networks, no central entity controls its operation, and rather the devices cooperatively control and coordinate the network. The aim of the current work is to study the performance of Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) algorithm for MANETs. Extensive experiments in different scenarios with several parameters under free space, two-ray ground and shadowing propagation models were performed. The study presented here indicates distinct network performance results depending on the propagation model used. For instance, it shows that the algorithm has difficulties to maintain routes in environments with severe fading. In addition, management of radio power so that the packet transmissions are tailored to reach only the desired nodes seems to be a good compromise between interference and coverage.