Optimizing the Threshold-Value for Counter-Based Broadcast Scheme in MANETs

Broadcasting is a fundamental and frequently used operation in Mobile Ad hoc NETworks (MANETs). Flooding, the process in which each node retransmits every uniquely received packet exactly once is the simplest and most commonly used mechanism for broadcasting in MANETs. Despite its simplicity, it can result in high redundancy, contention and collision, collectively known as broadcast storm problem. Counter-based broadcasting scheme has been proposed to overcome the broadcast storm problem in MANET. It relies on a threshold value to decide whether or not to forward a broadcast packet. The selection of an optimal counter threshold-value of this scheme is critical to improving saved rebroadcast without degrading reachability.