Data packet header overhead reduction for DSR in mobile ad hoc networks

Most existing optimizations reduce control overhead by minimizing the quantity of routing packets. Many researchers have pointed out that the complete route carried by each data packet degrades the performance of the dynamic source routing (DSR). However, there has been little literature focusing on the reduction of overhead in the forwarding data packet. A simple and effective technique, Deleting Redundant Address (DRA), is proposed to minimize data packet header overhead, which is a significant source of the total control overhead for dynamic source routing. Performance results show that DRA can enhance the performance of DSR in terms of total control overhead, packet delivery ratio, and end-to-end delay.