Performance analysis of broadcast protocols in ad hoc networks based on self-pruning

Self-pruning is an effective method to reduce broadcast redundancy in ad hoc wireless networks. Unlike flooding, in a self-pruning broadcast protocol, a node may not forward a broadcast packet if a certain self-pruning condition is satisfied based on the neighborhood information. For each broadcasting, only a subset of nodes forwards the broadcast packet and still guarantee the complete network delivery under the ideal network situation that no packet is lost due to packet collision and node mobility. We evaluate the performance of the family of self-pruning protocols under various network situations with ns2. The objective is to observe the efficiency and reliability of these protocols as a function of network density, congestion, and mobility, and provide a guideline of implementation in the "real world". Our performance analysis reveals that the protocol reliability is barely affected by packet collision. However, most self-pruning protocols suffer from low delivery ratio in highly mobile networks. We further explore various techniques that improve the delivery ratio and show that both high efficiency and reliability can be achieved in highly mobile networks.