A new dynamic probabilistic broadcast in IPv6-based low-power and lossy networks for the internet of things

Due to its attractive features, such as simplicity and ease of implementation, probabilistic broadcast has been widely investigated in IEEE 802.11-based networks. In contrast, hardly any research has investigated its merits in IEEE 802.15.4-based networks, which are also widely referred to as Low-power and Lossy Networks (LLNs). Motivated by this observation, this study is the first to investigate the performance merits of Dynamic Probabilistic Broadcast (DPB) in IPv6-based LLNs. In our proposed approach, upon message arrival, a node leverages the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) to dynamically set the rebroadcast probability combined with a counter-based optimization that is compliant with the Radio Duty Cycle (RDC) specifications of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard to enhance its rebroadcast decisions. Simulation results demonstrate that the new DPB offers desirable performance tradeoffs compared to existing state-of-the-art broadcast solutions such as the well-known Trickle Multicast (TM), Stateless Multicast RPL Forwarding (SMRF), Bidirectional Multicast RPL Forwarding (BMRF), and Blind Flooding (BF). DPB achieves the highest message delivery ratio, nearing 97%, while maintaining acceptable message retransmissions, broadcast latency, and energy consumption.