Al-kahtani, Mohammed Saeed2013-11-082013-11-0820052005Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-12, Section: B, page: 6800.http://hdl.handle.net/10393/29190http://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-19640This thesis is primarily concerned with the design of a Quality-of-Service (QoS) management framework to enhance the stability and support reliability in the cluster-based mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). This framework is based on providing a secondary clusterhead (SCH) for each clusterhead, which we call here primary clusterhead (PCH). This SCH, which is a regular member node, is identified and assigned by its PCH to be the future leader of the cluster. The SCH will be triggered to be the PCH when the former PCH can no longer be a clusterhead. To enhance the cluster stability, this framework introduces a new protocol to reform the cluster; namely the Smooth and Efficient Re-Clustering (SERC) protocol. In SERC, since the future clusterhead is known by the cluster members, the cluster leadership will be transferred smoothly and the cluster will be reformed immediately with no need to invoke the clustering algorithm. Also, since the member nodes are associated to the cluster with its subsequent clusterheads, the cluster looks stable to the other clusters. Hence, the smooth clusterhead transfer from a node to another aims at increasing the cluster residence time, which will sustain the stability of the network, decrease the clustering communication overhead, and minimize the time spent by each node to join or to reform a cluster. To support the route reliability, this framework provides a new multipath routing protocol, which is named a Localized Cluster-based Rerouting and Resource Reservation Protocol (LC3R). In LC3R, the main route can be established through the PCH chains, while the backup route can be established through the SCH chains. This protocol intends to improve the performance of MANETs by increasing the route lifetime to enhance the network stability and by developing a reliable cluster-based routing protocol to support the QoS requirements. In this study, we describe the general strategies and structures of SERC and LC3R and demonstrate their effectiveness via analysis and simulation. This study includes a comprehensive set of performance evaluations of a MANET environment. The results show how these approaches can achieve a high packet delivery rate and a low packet delivery time with no more rerouting and reclustering communication overhead. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that proposes two clusterheads for each cluster, which is the main contribution of this work.158 p.enEngineering, Electronics and Electrical.Computer Science.Thesis