Destination-Sequenced Distance Vector routing

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Destination-Sequenced Distance-Vector Routing (DSDV) is a table-driven routing scheme for ad hoc mobile networks based on the Bellman-Ford algorithm. It was developed by C. Perkins and P.Bhagwat in 1994. The main contribution of the algorithm was to solve the Routing Loop problem. Each entry in the routing table contains a sequence number, the sequence numbers are generally even if a link is present; else, an odd number is used. The number is generated by the destination, and the emitter needs to send out the next update with this number. Routing information is distributed between nodes by sending full dumps infrequently and smaller incremental updates more frequently.

For example the routing table of Node A in this network is

Destination	Next Hop	Number of Hops	Sequence Number	Install Time
A	A	0	A 46	001000
B	B	1	B 36	001200
C	B	2	B 28	001500

Naturally the table contains description of all possible paths reachable by node A, along with the next hop, number of hops and sequence number.

1 Selection of Route
2 Advantages
3 Disadvantages
4 Influence
5 References

[edit] Selection of Route

If a router receives new information, then it uses the latest sequence number. If the sequence number is the same as the one already in the table, the route with the better metric is used. Stale entries are those entries that have not been updated for a while. Such entries as well as the routes using those nodes as next hops are deleted.

[edit] Advantages

DSDV was one of the early algorithms available. It is quite suitable for creating ad hoc networks with small number of nodes. Since no formal specification of this algorithm is present there is no commercial implementation of this algorithm. Many improved forms of this algorithm have been suggested.

[edit] Disadvantages

DSDV requires a regular update of its routing tables, which uses up battery power and a small amount of bandwidth even when the network is idle.
Whenever the topology of the network changes, a new sequence number is necessary before the network re-converges; thus, DSDV is not suitable for highly dynamic networks. (As in all distance-vector protocols, this does not perturb traffic in regions of the network that are not concerned by the topology change.)

[edit] Influence

While DSDV itself does not appear to be much used today^{[citation needed]}, other protocols have used similar techniques. The best-known sequenced distance vector protocol is AODV, which, by virtue of being a reactive protocol, can use simpler sequencing heuristics. Babel is an attempt at making DSDV more robust and more efficient within the framework of proactive protocols.