Energy-Efficient Check-and-Spray Geocast Routing Protocol for Opportunistic Networks

Abstract

Opportunistic networks (OppNets) are a type of challenged network where there is no guaranteed of end-to-path between the nodes for data delivery because of intermittent connectivity, node mobility and frequent topology changes. In such an environment, the routing of data is a challenge since the battery power of the mobile nodes drains out quickly because of multi-routing activities such as scanning, transmitting, receiving, and computational processing, effecting the overall network performance. In this paper, a novel routing protocol for OppNets called Energy-Efficient Check-and-Spray Geocast Routing (EECSG) is proposed, which introduces an effective way of message distribution in the geocasting region to all residing nodes while saving the energy consumption by restricting the unnecessary packet transmission in that region. A Check-and-Spray technique is also introduced to eliminate the overhead of packets in the geocast region. The proposed EECSG is evaluated by simulations and compared against the Efficient and Flexible Geocasting for Opportunistic Networks (GSAF) and the Centrality- Based Geocasting for Opportunistic networks (CGOPP) routing protocols in terms of average latency, delivery ratio, number of messages forwarded, number of dead nodes, overhead ratio, and hop count, showing superior performance.