Performance analysis of routing algorithms in AANET with realistic access layer

Abstract : Aeronautical Ad-hoc NETworks (AANETs) have been studied and could be proposed as an complementary communication system for civil aviation. Several routing algorithm have been proposed and assessed through simulation, but there is a lack of evaluation in realistic conditions, especially regarding the access layer. In this paper we propose to use Random Packet CDMA (RP-CDMA) as a MAC layer protocol for AANETs. We then present the results of simulations with actual aircraft trajectories considering successively three well-known routing algorithm (namely AODV, DYMO and BATMAN). We conclude from these simulations that AODV has the best performances, but also that the realistic access layer is quickly saturated by the mere signalization traffic. This calls for improvements in both routing algorithms and access layer.