Abstract
Ad hoc networking allows portable devices to establish communication independent of a central infrastructure. However, the fact that there is no central infrastructure and that the devices can move randomly gives rise to various kind of problems, such as routing and security. In this paper the problem of routing is considered. Proactive routing protocol maintains routes to all nodes, including nodes to which no packets are sent. For that reason they require periodic control messages, which leads to scarce resources such as power and link bandwidth being used more frequently for control traffic as mobility increases. Reactive routing protocols, on the other hand, operate only when there is a need of communication between two nodes. Both proactive and reactive routing have specific advantages and disadvantages that make them suitable for certain types of scenarios. Combining the proactive and reactive approaches results in a hybrid routing protocol. A hybrid approach minimizes the disadvantages, but also the advantages of the two combined approaches.