TADL: A Trust-Aware Dynamic Location-Based Protocol Suite For Discovering Multiple Paths in MANETs

Abstract

This paper describes the design and evaluation of a multiple path discovery protocol suite aimed at finding a set of most trust-worthy paths for routing higher priority traffic towards a destination node with minimum overhead costs. The protocol suite, called a the Trust-Aware Dynamic Location-based (TADL) protocol suite, has taken three measures to optimize the path discovery outcome: (a) it uses a directional approach to broadcast route request packets to a destination, (b) it adjust the size of the searching area dynamically in response to the underlying network conditions, and (c) it uses trust values to govern the selection of neighbours in path formation and to reduce the overhead incurred in trust estimation, we have adopted a direct trust model. Measures (a) and (b) are take to minimise the level of broadcast traffic injected into the network in order to accomplish the path discovery task, and measure (c) is taken to ensure that the paths discovered are of best quality in terms of reliable packet deliveries. TADL is evaluated, using simulation, against the LAR protocol that has only implemented (a) (i.e. LAR only uses a location-based directional broadcast approach) under various network conditions. Our simulation study shows that TADL outperforms LAR in terms of reducing the routing overheads in the network. This overhead reduction can have a positive effect on QoS making the TADL more effective and efficient in providing QoS.