OPPRES: Opportunistic Routing algorithm for routing messages in emergency situations using vehicular delay tolerant network

Abstract

A vehicular delay tolerant network (VDTN) is a special type of delay tolerant network (DTN), in which vehicles act as mobile nodes that are carriers of the message. It is characterized by the absence of an end-to-end connectivity between the nodes residing at the extreme ends. The routing in VDTN is critical as nodes are not connected permanently and the goal is to complete the message delivery successfully. We propose an opportunistic Routing algorithm for Emerging Situations (OPPRES) using VDTN to route messages in the real world. OPPRES is based on a utility mechanism for routing messages in VDTN. The algorithm takes into account node's contact history recorded as a utility for forwarding the messages. This history comprises the past encounters of a node with the destination nodes or the relay nodes. The algorithm can be used to route the messages in emergency situations. Simulations show that, our algorithm OPPRES beat some existing DTN routing approaches like PRoPHET and Spray-and-Wait in terms of increased message delivery ratio and less average delivery latency at the cost of the large overhead ratio.