A generic broadcast protocol in ad hoc networks based on self-pruning

In ad hoc wireless networks, a successful broadcasting requires that the nodes forwarding the broadcast packet form a connected dominating set to ensure the coverage. An efficient broadcast method should generate a small forward node set without excessive overhead. Neighbor-knowledge-based methods, including neighbor-designating methods and self-pruning methods, are localized algorithms that reduce the number of forward nodes based on affordable local information. A generic broadcast protocol based on a simple self-pruning rule is proposed in this paper. The underlying local information, including the network information collected via exchanging "hello" messages and the broadcast history information carried by incoming broadcast packets, is discussed and formally defined. Most existing self-pruning protocols are shown to be special cases of the self-pruning rule. Simulation results show that more efficient protocols can be derived from the generic protocol, and high delivery ratio can be achieved with near-to-accurate local information.