A Reliable and Scalable Broadcast Protocol for Wireless Multi-Hop Networks Using Subcarrier-Level Tone-Signals

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a scalable broadcast protocol, named Subcarrier-level Tone-signal based Broadcast (ST-BCAST), that disseminates a packet over OFDM-based wireless multi-hop networks in an efficient and reliable manner. Exploiting collision-resilient tone-signals and receiver-triggered forwarding decision/cancellation, ST-BCAST achieves both high packet delivery ratio and low communication overhead without using any topological information, thereby providing scalability to the network size. Under a mild assumption, ST-BCAST satisfies two sufficient conditions for reliable broadcasting: first-hop delivery condition and successful relay condition. We verify the feasibility of tone-signal generation and detection through experiments using Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) devices, and show through NS-3 simulations that ST-BCAST significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art broadcast schemes in terms of packet delivery ratio and communication overhead.