Link Buffering for MANETs
draft-clausen-manet-linkbuffer-00

Abstract

A number of MANET routing protocols employ the ability to temporarily buffer undeliverable IP datagrams until a route to a destination becomes available. This is indeed the case for reactive protocols, which largely are based on the ability to store an undeliverable IP datagram while a route discovery operation is carried out. Current specifications of proactive routing-protocols do, however, also indiate that they may benefit from such a mechanism: while a local link breakage may imply that a selected route to a given destination breaks, buffering an undeliverable IP datagram may allow a local topology discovery mechanism to select an alternative route. This document describes a generic mechanism for buffering IP datagrams in MANETs. The mechanism is based on the idea that while a local link may make a route to a destination fail, it does not imply that an alternative route to that destination is not available. Hence, IP datagrams for transmission along that route are buffered to allow the routing protocol time to construct an alternative route. The IP datagram is discarded only if the routing protocol hasnâ"À"Ùt been able to provide an alternative route within a determined small delay. We note, that this specification does not mandate a required behavior for MANET routing protocols. Rather, since the mechanisms currently employed in the four existing MANET routing protocol specification are similar in what they try to accomplish, it is the goal of this specification to generalize and expand on these mechanisms, thereby provide a framework for (i) discussing and refining the mechanism in isolation and (ii) providing a common element, which may be usefull for multiple MANET routing protocols.

Authors

Thomas H. Clausen
Kenichi Mase

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