Optimal number of 1-hop neighbor nodes considering routing overhead in ad hoc networks

The number of nodes within 1-hop range plays an important role in determination of ad-hoc network performance. The more the number of 1-hop neighbor increases, the more routing traffic is generated. Although there have been several studies on the optimal number of 1-hop neighbor nodes, they had not considered routing overhead. In this study, we derive new optimal number of 1-hop neighbor nodes to maximize network throughput considering routing overhead. Numerical results show that the optimal number of 1-hop neighbor nodes depends on various factors such as the total number of nodes in a network, average node speed and routing algorithm.