Opportunistic Routing Protocols

Abstract

In intermittently connected mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) and delay tolerant networks (DTNs), in order to successfully transfer data from a moving node to another, the node has to first wait until it geographically “meets” other nodes (contact happens) for data-relay. Therefore, data communications are opportunistic in a store-carry-forward fashion, which constantly experiences large end-to-end delays. Data forwarding in VANETs falls in this category. Fast data forwarding which refers to minimizing the end-to-end delay and network traffic at the same time in vehicular networks is the cornerstone of a wide variety of applications. For example, real-time road traffic information can be obtained by exchanging local traffic observations among vehicles.