Wireless Sensor Network: Analysis of Routing Protocols

Abstract

The wireless networks have become increasingly popular in the computing industry. This is particularly true within the past decade, which has seen wireless networks being adapted to enable mobility. This article examines routing protocols designed for these ad hoc networks by first describing the operation of each of the protocols and then comparing their various characteristics. The remainder of the article is organized as follows. The next section presents a discussion of two subdivisions of ad hoc routing protocols. Another section discusses current table-driven protocols, while a later section describes those protocols which are classified as on-demand. The article then presents qualitative comparisons of table-driven protocols, followed by demand-driven protocols, and finally a general comparison of tabledriven and on-demand protocols.