Performance analysis of routing protocols for vehicular delay-tolerant networks

The single characteristics of vehicular communications, the various network scenarios, and the traffic load generated by a wide range of vehicular applications are key aspects that make challenging to select an appropriated routing protocol for these networks. In such a context, this paper presents a simulation-based performance analysis study of store-carry-and-forward routing protocols for vehicular delay-tolerant networks (VDTNs). Eight routing protocols (Direct Delivery, First Contact, GeOpps, Epidemic, Binary and Source Spray and Wait, PRoPHET, and GeoSpray) are compared in different scenarios in terms of traffic load and time-to-live values. The behavior and characteristics of these protocols are also analyzed. Results show that GeoSpray outperforms the other routing protocols with respect to delivery probability and delivery delay. This routing protocol makes efficient use of network resources.