Using relative neighborhood graphs for reliable database synchronization in MANETs

Achieving reliable communication of critical data on mobile ad hoc networks is a must before MANETs can be considered practical for standard mobile and vehicular communications. This paper thus focuses on schemes that complement existing ad hoc broadcast mechanisms (inherently unreliable), which can guarantee the full diffusion of critical messages, when necessary. An interesting approach in this domain is the use of an overlay network, over which critical messages are acknowledged peer to peer, in order to verify the actual dissemination. This paper elaborates on the problem of performance, related to the discovery and the maintenance of such an overlay network, in a mobile ad hoc context. We present an analysis of a novel algorithm, SLOT (Synchronized Link Overlay - Triangular), an overlay selected based on a Relative Neighborhood Graph (RNG)scheme, and we compare its performance with that of other existing algorithms, in the context of the industry-standard IP routing protocol OSPF, which uses alternative overlay algorithms to synchronize link state databases of routers. The results presented in this paper show that SLOT outperforms other existing overlays by necessitating drastically less control traffic in order to function, enabling OSPF to scale to larger mobile ad hoc topologies.