A performance model of neighbor discovery in proactive routing protocols

It is well known that neighbor discovery is a critical component of proactive routing protocols in wireless ad hoc networks. However there is no formal study on the performance of proposed neighbor discovery mechanisms. This paper provides a detailed model of key performance metrics of neighbor discovery algorithms, such as node degree and the distribution of the distance to symmetric neighbors. The model accounts for the dynamics of neighbor discovery as well as node density, mobility, radio and interference. The paper demonstrates a method for applying these models to the evaluation of global network metrics. In particular, it describes a model of network connectivity. Validation of the models shows that the degree estimate agrees, within 5% error, with simulations for the considered scenarios. The work presented in this paper serves as a basis for the performance evaluation of remaining performance metrics of routing protocols, vital for large scale deployment of ad-hoc networks.