Reactive Networking using Dynamic Link Exchange Protocol

Abstract: This master thesis studies the possibilities of using a radio-router protocol in order to increase the quality of service in dynamic tactical network environments. We cover three radio-router protocols with emphasis on Dynamic Link Exchange Protocol (DLEP). Many applications, such as voice and video communication, have bandwidth and latency requirements which need to be fulfilled in order to provide a sufficient level of quality. This poses a problem in tactical network environments where links are typically dynamic and both bandwidth andlatency can vary. A radio-router protocol can alleviate this problem and also improve the routing in a network by allowing routers to take part of link-layer information. By using a radio link emulator (RLE) developed by Saab we are able to simulate dynamic network environments. We have performed two experiments by combining the RLE and an implementation of a subset ofthe DLEP specification draft. Both experiments simulate typical military network scenarios and allow us to analyse the effects of utilizing link-layerfeedback.Our results show that by using DLEP it is possible to provide better quality of service in highly dynamic conditions. We also show that DLEP can influence Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) by making OLSR aware of changes in the network topology. This leads to a reduced network convergence time with only a small increase in OLSR overhead.