Evaluating the performance of MANETs Routing Protocols AODV and DSDV using the NS2 Network Simulator

An Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) is a collection of wireless mobile nodes that spontaneously join together to form a network; these networks do not rely on any preexisting infrastructure. It means that each node in the networks under consideration can switch position with any other node arbitrarily which implies that the topology of the multi-hop networks will be random and very dynamic. In an effort to enable communication among all nodes in MANET wireless networks, several routing protocols have been developed including AODV, DSR as well as DSDV. This paper provides a performance comparison and analysis of two routing protocols: the reactive AODV and the proactive DSDV. Throughput, energy consumption, average end-to-end latency, packet loss rate, and packet delivery ratio were some of the metrics used to evaluate their performance in the NS-2 network simulator. The study's limitations include bandwidth and energy constraints, storage limitations, mobility challenges, and variations in link capabilities. In comparison to DSDV, AODV achieves better packet delivery ratios and lower end-to-end delays, according to the simulation results. However, in energy consumption and packet loss rate, DSDV show the better performance as comparing with AODV. Furthermore, the work on comparing the proposed algorithm focuses that the throughput of both AODV and DSDV are almost equivalent. Secondly, the work implies that when the number of nodes is not so large, for example, if it is a small MANET, DSDV is more suitable, at the same time, if this is a relatively large network, for example, if it is a MANET with more nodes, AODV could be more suitable.