Evaluating Performance Characteristic of Opportunistic Routing Protocols: A Case Study of the 2016 Italian League Match Earthquake in the Stadio Adriatico

TL;DR

This study evaluates the performance of two opportunistic routing protocols, Epidemic and Spray and Wait, in a realistic disaster scenario modeled after the 2016 Italian earthquake, demonstrating Spray and Wait's superior efficiency and reliability.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of DTN routing protocols in a realistic emergency scenario, highlighting the effectiveness of Spray and Wait in disaster communication.

Findings

Spray and Wait achieves higher delivery probability.

Spray and Wait reduces overhead and resource usage.

Simulation confirms DTNs' usefulness in disaster response.

Abstract

Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs) can provide emergency communication support when conventional infrastructure is disrupted during disasters. This paper evaluates the performance of opportunistic routing protocols in a realistic disaster scenario based on the 2016 Central Italy earthquake, modelled as an emergency occurring during a football match at Stadio Adriatico in Pescara. We identify multiple suitable groups of mobile and static nodes, such as audiences, a range of different emergency responders, stage sensors, and vehicles, to design and build evacuation and rescue activities in a partially connected environment. Two representative DTN routing protocols, Epidemic and Spray and Wait, are tested under identical simulation settings and compared using delivery probability, latency, overhead ratio, hop count and dropped messages. The results highlight that Spray and Wait provides a better balance between reliability and efficiency in this scenario, achieving higher delivery probability while reducing overhead and using network resources more efficiently. The study shows the usefulness of DTN simulation for analysing disaster communication performance in emergency response scenarios.