[Olsr-users] General question about ad hoc routing

[Sergio López]

Hello,

I am working on my final degree project in Computer Science and I have
chosen to work with MANETs and specifically with OLSR for its routing. I
have still not tried to make work the binaries of the OLSR for the Android
platform (which is the one chosen for this project) but before of this I
have a question about how is the data processed in the MANET nodes.

As far as I know, OLSR is a routing protocol which basically populates the
kernel routing table of the device in which it is working. Supposing the
following scenario:

NODES: A, B, C, D, E, F
LINKS: AB, AC, BD, CE, DF, EF

And supposing that the routing tables are populated with OLSR algorism we
want node A to send a message to node F.

For example, the MPR of A in this scenario is B, then it will be the next
hop in OLSR internal routing table but in kernel routing table we just know
that we have to send this message for the interface X.

Once this message is send, it arrives to B and C (as they have
connectivity). Is in this point where I have the question.
What should be the processing of the messages in nodes B and C? Both of them
know how to arrive to F but if they both retransmit the message (acting as a
routers), why do we need a route if all is going to be broadcast?


Thanks in advance
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