Using a symmetric game based in volunteer´s dilemma to improve VANETs multihop broadcast communication

Many applications in VANETs use broadcast communications to disseminate information or keep proper functionality in a network. When the broadcast is multi-hop, it tends to cause unnecessary resource consumption due to the excessive redundant packets on the network, this is known as the broadcast storm problem. Recently, the broadcast storm problem has gained attention due to the impact on VANETs. Many studies emphasize the importance of the forwarding area as a factor for choosing forwarder vehicles. But as important as the use of the area is knowing how many candidates there are to forward a broadcast message. This paper proposes a technique to mitigate that problem through a game theory mechanism: “the volunteer´s dilemma”. With this mechanism, the probability of a vehicle forwarding a message is computed, taking into account the cost and the benefit of message propagation. The mechanism´s behavior was evaluated by simulations using NS-2. Results showed that when comparing it to a protocol that uses only the area which will be covered as factor for calculating the forwarding probability, packet loss ratio was reduced, as well as latency.