A Modified PRoPHET Protocol for Energy and Buffer Optimization in Delay Tolerant Networks: Performance Evaluation for an IoT Smart City Scenario

Abstract

In smart cities, Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs) support Internet of Things (IoT)-based services, where the density of interconnected devices is very high, making energy management even more critical. Considering energy-constrained scenarios, optimization of energy consumption will ensure the longevity of the individual nodes and sustainability of the whole infrastructure of the smart city. In such scenarios, energy-aware routing is a very important solution for efficient management of limited energy resources. In this work we present a modification of the Probabilistic Routing Protocol using History of Encounters and Transitivity (PRoPHET) protocol that integrates both energy-aware message forwarding and Acknowledgment (ACK) based buffer management to enhance the efficiency of message delivery in DTNs, especially in smart city IoT scenarios with limited energy and buffer resources. To validate the effectiveness of this modification, simulations are conducted to compare the performance of the modified PRoPHET protocol with the original version. The key metrics for evaluation include delivery probability, routing overhead and average buffer time. The modifications improve performance under energy constraints while managing buffer utilization more effectively.