On the Quality of Service Routing in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

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4.3.1 QoS Routing Based on Network Structure

In this section, we will describe QoS routing protocols that are based on the network
structure, namely flat or hierarchical networks.

4.3.2 QoS Routing in Flat Networks

The protocols we review here fall into three categories: (a) predictive routing, (b) ticketbased routing, and (c) bandwidth-based routing. Predictive routing detects changes in
link status and network topology a priori and uses this information to build stable routes
that have low probability of failing. The basic idea of ticket-based probing is described as
follows. A ticket is the permission to search one path. The source node issues a number
of tickets based on the available state information. Probes (routing messages) are sent
from the source toward the destination to search for a low-cost path that satisfies the
QoS requirement. Each probe is required to carry at least one ticket. At an intermediate
node, a probe with more than one ticket is allowed to be split into multiple ones, each
searching a different downstream subpath. The maximum number of probes at any time
is bounded by the total number of tickets. Since each probe searches a path, the maximum number of paths searched is also bounded by the number of tickets. If a QoS routing protocol supports QoS via separate end-to-end bandwidth calculation and allocation
mechanisms, it is called bandwidth-based routing. The bandwidth-based routing scheme
depends on the use of TDMA medium access scheme in which the wireless channel is
time slotted and the transmission scale is organized as frames (each containing a fixed
number of time slots). A global clock or time-synchronization mechanism is utilized
such that the entire network is synchronized on a frame and slot basis.
4.3.2.1 Predictive QoS Routing Protocols
In this kind of QoS routing, the protocol attempts to predict the link state change or
topology change beforehand, and tries to avoid using unstable links in calculating a
path. This scheme is hence probabilistic in nature and its success is highly dependent on
the ability to predict well with high probability.
In [16], Shah and Nahrstedt discussed the use of the updates of geographic location to
develop a predictive location-based QoS routing scheme based on a location resource
update protocol, which assists a QoS routing protocol. The motivation is that state information in a dynamic environment like MANETs does not remain current for very long.
The predicted locations are used to build future routes before existing routes break, and
thus avoid route re-computation delay. The proposed protocol is heavily dependent on the
prediction of nodes locations. The direction of motion of a mobile node is taken into
account when attempting to predict its future location. The approach involves an update
protocol, a location-delay prediction scheme, and the QoS routing protocol to route multimedia data to the destination. The location-delay prediction scheme is based on a location-resource update protocol, which assists the QoS routing protocol. The update
protocol is used to distribute nodes geographical location and resource information (e.g.,
battery power, queuing space, processor speed, transmission range, etc.). The update
packets used by the update protocol contain timestamps, current geometric coordinates,