An Alternative Paradigm for Routing in Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

We propose a new paradigm for routing in ad hoc networks based on the collection and dissemination of node states. This paradigm assumes nodes have location awareness and can measure the received signal strength of incoming transmissions. Thus, nodes can discover the pathloss in their environment. This information along with other information relevant to the node is combined into a node's state that is disseminated throughout the network. This state information not only supports all nodes discovering the network's topology but provides the very information that makes network management, network engineering, traffic engineering, and spectrum management feasible. The contribution of this summary is a brief description of how the node state routing (NSR)1 paradigm enables these management and engineering capabilities.