Epidemic routing in vehicular delay-tolerant networks: The use of heterogeneous conditions to increase packet delivery ratio

Vehicular networks can facilitate a set of new different services such as automated payments, security alerts, commerce, infotainment, etc., so they are relevant in the context of Intelligent Transportation Systems as well as in the context of Smart Cities. However, due to the harsh conditions in which they are developed, for example nodes moving at very high speeds, end-to-end communication is not always possible, so communication under traditional network schemes is not feasible. Vehicular Delay-Tolerant Networks are an extension of Delay-Tolerant Networks in which vehicles are the main agents in the communication process, and they make possible communication even when no end-to-end links are available in the network. In such kind of networks, alternative paths and packet distribution schemes are necessary. Hence, the analysis of dissemination algorithms is important as it provides insight of alternatives to ensure message delivery. In this paper we show how in heterogeneous environments the use of different conditions can lead to an increase in packet delivery ratio under simple epidemic spreading, one of the most used dissemination schemes.