The dynamic topology of mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) is caused by node mobility and fading of the wireless link. Link reliability is often measured by the estimated lifetime and the stability of a link. In this paper we propose that the stability of a link can be represented by the time duration in which the two nodes at each end of a link are within each other’s transmission range and the fading is above an acceptable threshold. A novel routing metric, called effective link operation duration (ELOD), is proposed and implemented into AODV (AODV-ELOD). Simulation results show that proposed AODVELOD outperforms both AODV and the Flow Oriented Routing Protocol (FORP)
