Reliable node based multipath QoS routing protocol on opportunistic networks

Opportunistic networks are similar to the mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) that does not have fixed infrastructure, and the messages can be transmitted by nodes in a store - carry - forward approach. The mobile nodes randomly move, which result in a constantly changed network topology and frequently interrupted link. Thus, multipath routing has been proposed to improve the stability of link, extend path lifetime and reduce packet loss rate. The paper first analyzes the traditional multipath routing protocol and its path selection theory, and then investigates quality of service (QoS) metric to improve transmission efficiency of opportunistic networks, and finally proposes a reliable node based on multipath QoS routing protocol, named as RNMR. In RNMR, the stable path contains primary path and two backup paths. The primary path consists of reliable nodes and intermediate nodes, and the two backup paths are formed by two disjoint sub-paths selected from two adjacent and reliable nodes. By comparing with the backup source routing (BSR) protocol and greed -based routing (GBR-WB) protocol, the paper proves RNMR protocol has longer path lifetime, deliver rate and relay are also improved.