A probabilistic neighbor discovery algorithm in wireless ad hoc networks

In wireless ad hoc networks, it is difficult to share the information on neighbor devices in a distributed manner. Therefore, efficient neighbor discovery algorithms should be devised for self- organization in wireless ad hoc networks. In this paper, we propose a probabilistic neighbor discovery (PND) algorithm, which aims at reducing the neighbor discovery time by adjusting the transmission probability of advertisement messages through the muiltiplicative-increase/multiplicative-decrease (MIMD) policy. To further improve PND, we consider the collision detection (CD) capability in which a device can distinguish between successful reception and collision of advertisement messages. Simulation results show that the transmission probabilities of PND and PND with CD converge on the optimal value quickly although the number of devices is unknown. As a result, PND and PND with CD can reduce the neighbor discovery time by 15.6% and 57.0%, respectively, compared with the ALOHA-like neighbor discovery algorithm.