A distributed fuzzy multicast routing protocol (DFMCRP) for maximizing the network lifetime in mobile ad-hoc networks

An ad hoc wireless network is formed whenever multiple devices or nodes that wish to make communication, connect among themselves wirelessly based on their radio range and distribute network information with each other without any central administrator. In a MANET, the devices are mobile in nature and multi-hop communication is carried out between the mobile devices through some intermediate mobile devices. Due to the mobile nature of nodes, unsteady links, and restricted resources, routing is a difficult issue in MANET. Several routing techniques are already in use and multicast routing is used to conserve the network resources. In this paper, the optimal path is selected for data transmission using fuzzy logic. Distributed fuzzy decision making is obtained by running fuzzy inference engine in every node to handle the uncertainties in the MANET environment. The proposed work also suggests an optimized local route repair to be used in case of route failure. The ultimate objectives of both fuzzy based optimal route selection and route repair result in increased network lifetime. The fuzzy rules are developed using MATLAB and they are used in the NS2 network simulation for route generation and performance analysis. The proposed protocol performs better and also gives good network lifetime compared with the existing protocol MAODV.