"[8] In link-state routing protocols, each router possesses information about the complete network topology.
What is believed to be the first adaptive routing network of computers, using link-state routing, was designed and implemented during 1976–1977 by a team from Plessey Radar led by Bernard J Harris; the project was for "Wavell" – a system of computer command and control for the British Army.
However, it does synchronize routing tables at start-up as OSPF does and sends specific updates only when topology changes occur.
The Internet Engineering Task Force has standardized the Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL) protocol to accomplish this.
[13] More recently, this hierarchical technique was applied to wireless mesh networks using the Optimized Link State Routing Protocol (OLSR).
[citation needed] The first main stage in the link-state algorithm is to give a map of the network to every node.
The variant of a greedy algorithm then repetitively does the following: The two steps are repeated as long as there are any nodes left in the candidate list.
[citation needed] In some cases, it is reasonable to reduce the number of nodes that generate LSA messages.
For this reason, a topology reduction strategy can be applied, in which only a subset of the network nodes generate LSA messages.
[15] With Fisheye State Routing (FSR), the LSA are sent with different time-to-live values to restrict their diffusion and limit the overhead due to control messages.
[17] OLSR is proactive and uses hello and topology control messages to disseminate link-state information into the mobile ad hoc network.
Using hello messages, each node discovers two-hop neighbor information and elects a set of multipoint relays (MPRs).