Optimisation of the enhanced distance based broadcasting protocol for MANETs

Mobile ad hoc networks (or MANETs) are wireless networks that are spontaneously created by the neighbouring devices, without the use of any kind of infrastructure. These devices usually rely on batteries, so the lifetime of this type of network highly depends on the energy consumption of the devices composing it. Therefore, the optimisation of the energy consumption is a must in a realistic MANET. We deal in this paper with the optimisation of enhanced distance based (or EDB) broadcasting protocol for MANETs. EDB is an improved version of DB (distance based protocol), a state-of-the-art broadcasting protocol for MANETs, that is focussed on saving the energy used by the devices in the dissemination process (an essential component in MANETs), without degrading the network connectivity or the performance in the coverage of the broadcasting process. A set of parameters were identified in EDB and optimised using CellDE, a hybrid multi-objective optimisation algorithm, to maximise the coverage of the broadcast while minimising at the same time both the energy consumption and the broadcast time. The ns3 simulator was used to evaluate the different configurations of EDB. As a result, 100 different solutions are provided for every studied network, covering a wide range of design options; all of them have quality better than or similar to that provided by EDB with previously recommended values for its parameters.