Ad-hoc Affectance-selective Families for Layer Dissemination

Abstract

Information dissemination protocols for ad-hoc wireless networks frequently use a minimal subset of the available communication links, defining a rooted "broadcast" tree. In this work, we focus on the core challenge of disseminating from one layer to the next one of such tree. We call this problem Layer Dissemination. We study Layer Dissemination under a generalized model of interference, called affectance. The affectance model subsumes previous models, such as Radio Network and Signal to Inteference-plus-Noise Ratio. We present randomized and deterministic protocols for Layer Dissemination. These protocols are based on a combinatorial object that we call Affectance-selective Families. Our approach combines an engineering solution with theoretical guarantees. That is, we provide a method to characterize the network with a global measure of affectance based on measurements of interference in the specific deployment area. Then, our protocols distributedly produce an ad-hoc transmissions schedule for dissemination. In the randomized protocol only the network characterization is needed, whereas the deterministic protocol requires full knowledge of affectance. Our theoretical analysis provides guarantees on schedule length. We also present simulations of a real network-deployment area contrasting the performance of our randomized protocol, which takes into account affectance, against previous work for interference models that ignore some physical constraints. The striking improvement in performance shown by our simulations show the importance of utilizing a more physically-accurate model of interference that takes into account other effects beyond distance to transmitters.