Routing Protocols for Mobile and Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks: A Comparative Analysis

We present comparative analysis of MANET (Mobile Ad-Hoc Network) and VANET (Vehicular Ad-Hoc Network) routing protocols, in this paper. The analysis is based on various design factors. The traditional routing protocols of AODV (Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector), DSR (Dynamic Source Routing), and DSDV (Destination-Sequenced Distance-Vector) of MANET are utilizing node centric routing which leads to frequent breaking of routes, causing instability in routing. Usage of these protocols in high mobility environment like VANET may eventually cause many packets to drop. Route repairs and failures notification overheads increase significantly leading to low throughput and long delays. Such phenomenon is not suitable for Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANET) due to high mobility of nodes where network can be dense or sparse. Researchers have proposed various routing algorithms or mechanism for MANET and VANET. This paper describes the relevant protocols, associated algorithm and the strength and weakness of these routing protocols.