Energy-aware Routing Algorithm For Ad Hoc Network Based On Ant Colony Optimization

Ad Hoc network is a multi-hop temporary communication network, which is composed by mobile terminals with radio transmitters and receivers. There is no fixed network topology in the network, and the nodes do not require centralized control. The network is robust and with survivability that it has been widely used in various fields. Yet with mobility and limited functionality of nodes, traditional network routing protocols can not have good performance in Ad Hoc network. Thus, the study of Ad Hoc network routing protocols is one of the key problem in Ad Hoc network technology.The nodes in Ad Hoc network are mobility, portability and battery-powered. When a node runs out of energy, the disconnection between nodes will reduce the lifetime of the entire network. Thus, the research of energy-aware routing plays an important part in the research of Ad Hoc network routing protocols.Ant colony algorithm is an algorithm that approaches the complex optimization problems, the algorithm is swarm intelligence heuristic algorithm which is inspired from social ants search for food in nature. Ant colony algorithm has characteristics of strong robustness, parallelism, positive feedback and adapts to the frequency change of environment in finding the path. This algorithm has been widely used in combinatory problems and gets excellent results. The features of ant colony algorithm have a great similarity to the properties of Ad Hoc network. Thus, the researches based on ant colony algorithm for Ad Hoc network routing have practical significance.This article describes the characteristics and a variety of routing protocols of Ad Hoc networks. With constrained energy of nodes, we analysis the existing energy-aware routing protocols in Ad Hoc network. Then, the thesis presents the basic principles and model of ant colony algorithm, and introduces the application researches about the Ad Hoc network routing based on ant colony algorithm. To overcome the imbalanced energy of nodes, a novel routing algorithm combines the Ad Hoc network with energy-aware routing algorithm (ANERBA) is proposed, which is based on ant colony algorithm. In order to balancing the energy of nodes and extending the lifetime of the whole network, the new algorithm uses the remaining energy of nodes as a heuristic factor to calculate the routing probability and phenomenon update. Finally, the proposed algorithm is simulated and analyzed by the NS2 simulator in different scenarios, and the experimental results are compared with the results of AODV, which is a mature protocol in Ad Hoc network routings. The simulation results show that ANERBA performs well in packet delivery ratio, the average end-to-end delay and lifetime of network. Besides, ANERBA has better performance in balancing the energy consuming of nodes.