The use of Evolving Graph Combinatorial Model in Routing Protocols for Dynamic Networks

The assessment of routing protocols for ad hoc networks is a difficult task, due to the networks’ highly dynamic behavior and the absence of benchmarks. Recently, a graph theoretic model – the evolving graphs – was proposed to help capture the network topology changes during time, with predictable dynamics at least. The algorithms and insights obtained through this model are theoretically very efficient and intriguing. However, there is no study about the use of such theoretical results into practical situations. We used the NS2 network simulator to first implement an evolving graph based routing protocol, and then used it as a benchmark when comparing four major ad-hoc routing protocols. Interestingly, our experiments showed that evolving graphs have the potential to be an effective and powerful tool. In order to make this model widely applicable, however, some practical issues still have to be addressed and incorporated into the model.