Routing Protocols in MANET: Comparative Study?

A Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET) is composed of mobile nodes without any infrastructure like wireless access points or base stations. MANET describes wireless, mobile and multi-hop networks that operate without the benefit of any existing infrastructure except for the nodes themselves. The main goal of an ad hoc network routing protocol is to establish correct and efficient route between a pair of mobile nodes so that messages delivered within the active route timeout interval. Several protocols are introduced for improving the routing mechanism to find route between any source and destination host across the network. This paper describes and compares various routing protocols used in MANET, viz. proactive, reactive and hybrid routing protocols.