Paper Contents
Abstract
Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) are self-configuring, infrastructure-less wireless networks where nodes communicate directly and act as both hosts and routers. Their highly dynamic topology, frequent link failures, and resource constraints make routing a critical challenge. Efficient routing protocols are therefore essential to ensure reliable communication in diverse MANET applications, including military operations, disaster recovery, vehicular networks, and IoT environments. This review examines three major categories of MANET routing protocols: proactive, reactive, and hybrid. Proactive protocols, such as DSDV and OLSR, provide low latency but suffer from high control overhead. Reactive protocols, including AODV and DSR, reduce overhead through on-demand route discovery, yet introduce higher latency and scalability issues. Hybrid protocols like ZRP attempt to balance both approaches, but complexity remains a limitation. Comparative analysis highlights that no single protocol performs optimally across all scenarios, as trade-offs exist between latency, scalability, and resource consumption. Finally, future research directions are discussed, emphasizing the need for energy-efficient, secure, and adaptive routing mechanisms. Integration of QoS support, machine learning techniques, and scalability improvements will play a vital role in advancing MANET routing protocols for next-generation wireless networks
Copyright
Copyright © 2025 Divyanshi Gugaliya1. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.
