Evaluation of a Multi-Layer OLSR Design for Heterogeneous Networks

In larger military units, military networks are heterogeneous in nature. This means that underlying flat sub-networks need to be interconnected. The heterogeneous network comprises a variety of networks with different bandwidths as one radio system (transmission technology) cannot support all requirements. In this report, a layer 3 routing approach using OLSR to connect subnetworks is investigated. The aim of the study was to understand the design requirements for layer 3 routing with OLSR in more challenging scenarios, mainly in terms of scalability and mobility handling. To do so, basic OLSR and two different modifications of OLSR were tested. The overall design goal was to keep the overhead generated by the OLSR control traffic low while at the same time, maintaining a high packet delivery ratio. The results show that the overhead was reduced with the tested OLSR modifications, but also that the packet delivery ratio was notably reduced. Still, there is need for further work. Somewhat larger modifications and additions to OLSR seem to be necessary to make the OLSR to work satisfactorily in this type of scenarios.