Adapting the hybrid data dissemination protocol to density by dynamically controlling the broadcast zone radius

Environment densities change both frequently and rapidly in VANETs. In this paper, we enhance our protocol to become adaptable to density such that as a car moves from one environment density to another, the protocol dynamically sets the broadcast zone radius to adjust to the new density. We study the effect of network density against a range of broadcast zone radius values and obtain a weighted performance metric for each combination. Using this data, we identify the optimal broadcast zone radius per density. We plot these optimal values against the densities values (lambda) known to each of the nodes in the network to obtain the formula we use to determine the broadcast zone radius.