Distributed pruning algorithms based on neighborhood connectivity for broadcast communication in wireless ad hoc networks

A virtual backbone is a promising architecture for broadcast communication in wireless ad hoc networks. When nodes use constant and identical transmission power, energy-efficient broadcasting amounts to minimizing the size of the backbone. In this paper we present a class of distributed pruning algorithms for the purpose of finding a virtual backbone of small size. In our algorithm design, the control of global network connectivity is carried out in a distributed manner. Specifically, every node is responsible for monitoring the connectivity between its one-hop neighbors. Nodes make pruning decisions based on this connectivity information. Our pruning algorithms do not require knowledge of global network topology or geographical locations of nodes. Moreover, the amount of control messages involved in making pruning decisions can be significantly reduced if nodes are allowed to rejoin the backbone when necessary. Our computational experiments demonstrate that our pruning algorithms perform very well in terms of generating a small-sized backbone. In addition, we discuss algorithm extensions that allows us to design energy-efficient broadcasting protocols for mobile ad hoc networking