Wireless Hierarchical Routing Protocol with Group Mobility (WHIRL)

In this paper we address the problem of routing in a large wireless, mobile network such as found in the automated battle field or in extensive disaster recovery operations. Conventional routing does not scale well to network size. Likewise, conventional hierarchical routing cannot handle mobility efficiently. In this paper, we propose a novel soft state Wireless HIerarchical Routing protocoL (WHIRL). We distinguish between the ”physical” routing hierarchy (dictated by geographical relationships between nodes) and ”logical” hierarchy of subnets in which the members move as a group (e.g., company, brigade, battalion in the battlefield). WHIRL keeps track of logical subnet movements using Home Agent concepts akin to Mobile IP. A group mobility model is introduced and the performance of the WHIRL is evaluated through a detailed wireless simulation model.