The Impact of Initial Network Topology on Performance of Routing Algorithms in MANETs

The impact of the initial network topology on performance of routing algorithms is explored. Typically researchers use a randomly chosen network topology for performance evaluation of their protocols and algorithms. Here, the authors show that the initial network topology can have a significant impact on algorithm performance and can lead to biased results, in particular, an initial topology that includes a major connectivity obstacle such as low connectivity level (e.g., a tree topology) or bridges. Although users move according to commonly implemented random mobility models, the effect of the initial topology can persist over time.