Simple pragmatic approach to mesh routing using BATMAN
David Lloyd Johnson, Ntsibane Ntlatlapa, Corinna Aichele · 2008
Abstract — Development and performance analysis of ad hoc networking protocols has typically been performed by making use of software based simulation tools. However when running a routing protocol such as OLSR in large mesh network de-ployments, such as the 300 node Freifunk network in Berlin, it has been found that many of the optimization features, such as Multi-Point-Relays (MPRs), don’t produce reliable routing. Some of the key issues which cause performance degradation with MPRs are routing loops due to asymmetrical links. In this paper a simple pragmatic routing protocol called BATMAN (Better Approach To Mobile ad hoc Networking) is presented as a response to the shortcomings of OLSR together with a comparison of its performance to OLSR. The experiments are run on a custom developed 7 by 7 grid of closely spaced WiFi nodes. The results show that BATMAN outperforms OLSR in terms of better throughput, less delay, lower CPU load and lower routing overhead. I.