Dual-path-based reliable geocasting for tactical ad hoc networks

Geocasting is an efficient mechanism for disseminating messages towards a specific geographical region. Since its packet forwarding is based on the location information of nodes, it does not require any periodic or on-demand path updates. Especially, geocasting is suitable for several applications in tactical ad hoc networks such as alarms for chemical and missile attacks, guerrilla detection or a local weathercast. However, traditional geocast protocols proposed for pure mobile ad hoc networks are inadequate to meet high demands of reliability in military applications. In this study, the authors propose even more efficient and reliable dual-path geocasting protocol which utilises two independent paths and novel acknowledgement mechanisms to improve the chances of successful message delivery. The authors investigate how to locate this dual path to achieve the best performance by means of destination points. The authors´ comprehensive simulation study using ns-2 shows that the proposed scheme results in high delivery ratio with low packet overhead and latency.