Features specific to OLSR

Link-state acquisition protocols such as Open Shortest Aisle First (OSPF) and IS-IS accept a appointed router on every hotlink to accomplish calamity of cartography information. In wireless ad-hoc networks, there is altered angle of a link, packets can and do go out the aforementioned interface; hence, a altered access is bare in adjustment to optimize the calamity process. Application Hello letters the OLSR agreement at anniversary bulge discovers 2-hop acquaintance advice and performs a broadcast acclamation of a set of multipoint relays (MPRs). Nodes baddest MPRs such that there exists a aisle to anniversary of its 2-hop neighbors via a bulge called as an MPR. These MPR nodes again antecedent and advanced TC letters that accommodate the MPR selectors. This activity of MPRs makes OLSR altered from added hotlink accompaniment acquisition protocols in a few altered ways: The forwarding aisle for TC letters is not aggregate a part of all nodes but varies depending on the source, alone a subset of nodes antecedent hotlink accompaniment information, not all links of a bulge are advertised but alone those that represent MPR selections.

Since link-state acquisition requires the cartography database to be synchronized beyond the network, OSPF and IS-IS accomplish cartography calamity application a reliable algorithm. Such an algorithm is actual difficult to architecture for ad-hoc wireless networks, so OLSR doesn't bother with reliability; it artlessly floods cartography abstracts generally abundant to accomplish abiding that the database does not abide unsynchronized for continued periods of time.