A cluster-based approach for routing in dynamic networks

The design and analysis of routing protocols is an important issue in dynamic networks such as packet radio and ad-hoc wireless networks. Most conventional protocols exhibit their least desirable behavior for highly dynamic interconnection topologies. We propose a new methodology for routing and topology information maintenance in dynamic networks. The basic idea behind the protocol is to divide the graph into a number of overlapping clusters. A change in the network topology corresponds to a change in cluster membership. We present algorithms for creation of clusters, as well as algorithms to maintain them in the presence of various network events. Compared to existing and conventional routing protocols, the proposed cluster-based approach incurs lower overhead during topology updates and also has quicker reconvergence. The effectiveness of this approach also lies in the fact that existing routing protocols can be directly applied to the network --- replacing the nodes by clusters.