Neighbor Discovery in Multichannel Wireless Clique Networks: An Epidemic Approach

We investigate the problem of neighbor discovery in multichannel wireless ad hoc and sensor networks with epidemic information dissemination. Previous works have considered neighbor discovery in a single channel where at most one node can be discovered per time instant. To reduce the effect of collisions observed in single channel solutions, we formulate models for multichannel neighbor discovery and allow for epidemic dissemination of information. As a result, nodes can discover all their neighbors faster, either directly or indirectly by hopping between orthogonal channels and exploring the neighbors in each of them. We show analytically, by simulations, and by experimental evaluations that the expected neighbor discovery time is reduced considerably compared to single channel neighbor discovery solutions.