SDMANET : enhancing MANETs performance with hybrid protocols through SDN integration

Abstract

In the ever-changing landscape of applications, traditional Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) have to overcome significant hurdles to optimise bandwidth, manage node mobility, and efficiently handle power. These limitations have far-reaching effects on network structure, operational mode, stability, and the performance of upper-layer applications. This thesis proposes an innovative network architecture that aims to address these challenges by integrating Software-Defined Networking (SDN) with MANET. SDN offers a centralised network perspective, enabling improved control and forwarding decision-making. The Software-Defined Mobile Ad hoc Networks (SDMANET) approach represents a sophisticated integration of SDN nodes with several traditional routing protocols, including OLSR, BATMAN, BATMAN-ADV, and GRE. This multifaceted method facilitates efficient IP-based packet forwarding while leveraging the capabilities of the OpenFlow protocol to manage data flows within the SDN framework. By combining these advanced technologies, the SDMANET approach ensures smooth interoperability between modern SDN architectures and traditional legacy nodes. This integration not only enhances network flexibility and performance but also preserves the functionality of existing routing methods, making it an effective solution for evolving network environments. To mitigate the risk of a single point of failure, the experimental setup includes an ONOS cluster instead of a singular centralised controller. Notably, SDMANET outperforms traditional routing protocols in terms of throughput, packet delivery ratio, packet loss, end-to-end delay and routing overhead for both TCP and UDP traffic, demonstrating promising results compared to previous studies (Mishra et al., 2018; El-Garoui et al., 2020; Hakiri et al., 2017). The results demonstrate that SDMANET achieves up to 37% higher throughput, about 30% lower end-to-end delay, and approximately 25% improvement in packet delivery ratio compared to conventional MANET protocols under both TCP and UDP traffic. It also significantly reduces routing overhead in dynamic topologies. These results substantiate SDMANET as a promising solution for next-generation mobile networks, especially in 5G and 6G contexts, where scalability, adaptability, and efficient resource management are critical. This research thus contributes a scalable, performance-oriented SDMANET framework that addresses key gaps in existing architectures.