Binary-partition-assisted MAC-layer broadcast for emergency message dissemination in VANETs

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) have recently been considered as an attractive network architecture to provide various services ranging from road safety to entertainment applications. In this paper, we propose an IEEE-802.11-based multihop broadcast protocol to address the issue of emergency message dissemination in VANETs. The protocol adopts a binary-partition-based approach to repetitively divide the area inside the transmission range to obtain the furthest possible segment. The forwarding duty is then delegated to a vehicle chosen in that segment. Aside from accomplishing directional broadcast for highway scenario, the protocol also exhibits good adaptation to complex road structures. The main focus of the paper lies in reducing broadcast delay, which is an important factor for time-critical safety applications. Most importantly, the contention delay remains almost constant, irrespective of vehicle density. Mathematical analysis is performed to assess the effectiveness of the protocol. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed protocol imparts greater performance in terms of latency and message progress when compared with contemporary multihop broadcast protocols for VANETs.