Reliable multimedia broadcasting over dense wireless ad-hoc networks

Broadcasting is an essential operation for Wireless Ad Hoc Networks to perform routing path discovery, and it has become the predominant technology for message dissemination in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs). In the reactive routing schemes of wireless ad hoc network, Routing Request (RREQ) packets are broadcast from the source, and once received the destination traces back the broadcasting path to build an on-demand route. In VANETs, different broadcasting schemes have been proposed for safety, comfort, and commercial applications. However, broadcasting usually generates a lot of redundant messages which would cause excessive channel contention and packet collisions, especially when the density of the network becomes higher. In this survey article, we first introduce the most common data dissemination techniques used in wireless ad hoc networks. After that, we discuss techniques that have been proposed to mitigate the broadcast storm problem. Finally, we introduce an effective model for analyzing the broadcasting schemes, and based on the model we propose an adaptively adjusted probabilistic scheme that highly improves the reliability of broadcasting in dense ad hoc networks.