MERIT: A unified framework for routing protocol assessment in mobile ad hoc networks

MERIT is a framework to assess routing protocols in mobile ad hoc networks (manets). It is based on the novel concept of a shortest mobile path (SMP) in a mobile graph, generalizing the traditional shortest path concept for the mobile environment. As a standard measure for routing protocols in a manet, the MERIT framework proposes the mean ratio of the cost of the actually used route to the cost of the optimal mobile path, under the same history of link metrics in the changing network topology. The MERIT spectrum takes the MERIT ratio as a function of parameters of interest yielding a multi-faceted representation of protocol effectiveness. This Mean Real vs. Ideal cosT (MERIT) framework is unifying in that it provides a measure that allows a protocol to be assessed independently of other protocols, within its own environment. We show that there is an efficient algorithm to solve the underlying SMP problem for important cases, making the approach practically feasible. We also investigate generalizations of and extensions within the MERIT framework.