COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ROUTING PROTOCOLS IN MOBILE ADHOC NETWORKS USING QUALNET6.1

A mobile Ad-hoc network (MANET) is a dynamic multi hop wireless network established by a collection of mobile nodes in which there is no centralized administration. Due to the node mobility and dynamic network topology, the routing is one of the most important challenges in ad-hoc networks. All the nodes in the network should be cooperative so that the exchange of information would be successful. This cooperation process is called as routing. Election of routing protocols in MANET (Mobile Ad Hoc Network) is a great challenge, because of its frequent topology changes and routing overhead. In this paper, the performance of reactive (AODV and DSR) and hybrid (ZRP) routing protocols has been compared. The performance differentials are analyzed on the basis of Packet Delivery Ratio, Throughput and End to End Delay simulated in qualnet6.1.