A Context-Aware Cross-Layer Broadcast Model for Ad Hoc Networks: Analysis of Multi-Hop Routing

The standard 802.11 medium access control (MAC) performs poorly for heavy broadcast traffic. We propose an alternative context-aware cross-layer (CACL) broadcast model that relies only on contextual information available to the 802.11 MAC. We compare CACL and the 802.11 MAC in conjunction with a controlled flooding routing protocol, Self-Balancing Supply/Demand (SBSD). We test three different road-based mobility levels, varying the rate of request posting in each. We observe that CACL strongly outperforms the 802.11 MAC at high posting rates.