Obstacle-free geocasting protocol for ad hoc wireless networks

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANET) comprise mobile hosts in a network bereft of base stations and characterized by a highly dynamic network topology. The MANET environment contains unpredictable obstacles, such as mountains, lakes, buildings, or regions without any hosts, impeding or blocking message relay. This study proposes geocasting protocol for sending short message from a source host to a geocasting region in ad hoc networks. The proposed protocol keeps messages away from unpredictable obstacles and creates a small flooding region. Experimental results show that a source host can send a short message to all hosts located in geographical area with a high success rate and low flooding overhead.