Research On Location-Based Routing Protocol In Maritime Wireless Mesh Networks

At present, VHF and UHF radio communications equipment and satellite communication are used as the main methods by maritime wireless communications. These technologies have some common disadvantages such as low rate and poor communication quality. And satellite communications equipment is expensive and the price of communications is high. In order to provide an efficient and stable communication network for maritime communication users, this paper studies maritime communications based on wireless Mesh networks and the maritime wireless networks routing protocol.According to the characteristics of maritime wireless communication network, LAR(Location Aided Routing) protocol was selected as the research of the maritime wireless Mesh network routing protocol. According to the particularity of maritime wireless communications environment, this study makes some related improvement for the LAR protocol and proposes a M-LAR(Modified-LAR) protocol. M-LAR optimized the Expected Zone of LAR, and added local repair mechanism for the unstable maritime communication links. The M-LAR protocol searches for an alternative link to replace the broken link, and this mechanism effectively reduce the data packet loss rate and the routing control pack overhead. According to the characteristics of the vessel mobile data and maritime electromagnetic wave propagation, this paper established the vessel mobile model and maritime electromagnetic wave propagation model by OPNET. Finally, simulation analysis for M-LAR, LAR and AODV were conducted by the OPNET platform. And the simulation result of packet loss rate, packet delay and routing overhead were analyzed in detailed. The simulation results showed that the performance of the M-LAR protocol is superior to other routing protocols. The M-LAR protocol can effectively improve the maritime wireless network performance and it is suitable for the maritime wireless network communication system.