We have studied AODV and DSR, two on-demand routing protocols for ad hoc networks. They both use similar on-demand route discovery methods but different routing mechanics. DSR uses a source routing algorithm while AODV uses a table-based routing algorithm. This allows DSR to have multiple route entries for the same destination while AODV only keeps track of the most recent route.
We used a simple simulation model to show how these two protocols work. Through the simulation we confirmed the mechanism of these two algorithms and were able to show a difference between them. This diffence suggests that DSR will use routes with a smaller number of hops than AODV will.
It was difficult to determine which protocol worked better using our simulations. To this effect further studies considering several parameters, for example network load, packet delivery delay, node mobility, etc., is required.