Broadcast in Wireless multi-hop Networks

Introduction

Broadcasting in the field of network communication usually means the distribution of messages/data to a number of recipients.

Why broadcasting?

Broadcasting is a common technique to realize many network issues such as

• paging,
• sending alarm signals,
• routing (e.g., DSR, ZRP, AODV),
• providing multicast in rapidly changing topologies.

Broadcasting by flooding

There are several ways to send a message from one host to all the other hosts.

Broadcasting done by flooding is a simple and straight-forward approach to deal with this problem.

Remember: In MANETs we're usually confronted with a multihop scenario!