Fundamental limits of information dissemination in wireless ad hoc networks-part I: single-packet reception

We present the first unified modeling framework for the computation of the capacity-delay tradeoff of random wireless ad hoc networks. This framework considers information dissemination by means of unicast routing, multicast routing, broadcasting, or different forms of anycasting. We introduce (n, m, k) -casting as a generalization of all forms of one-toone, one-to-many, and many-to-many information dissemination in wireless networks. In this context, n, m, and k denote the total number of nodes in the network, the number of destinations for each communication group, and the actual number of communication-group members that receive information (k ¿ m), respectively. We describe the capacity-delay tradeoff for (n, m, k) -casting in wireless ad hoc networks in which receivers perform single-packet reception (SPR). Our results are consistent with prior results in wireless networks and extend them to the general (n,m,k) -cast case.