  Information dissemination protocols for ad-hoc wireless networks frequently
use a minimal subset of the available communication links, defining a rooted
"broadcast" tree. In this work, we focus on the core challenge of disseminating
from one layer to the next one of such tree. We call this problem Layer
Dissemination. We study Layer Dissemination under a generalized model of
interference, called affectance. The affectance model subsumes previous models,
such as Radio Network and Signal to Inteference-plus-Noise Ratio. We present
randomized and deterministic protocols for Layer Dissemination. These protocols
are based on a combinatorial object that we call Affectance-selective Families.
Our approach combines an engineering solution with theoretical guarantees. That
is, we provide a method to characterize the network with a global measure of
affectance based on measurements of interference in the specific deployment
area. Then, our protocols distributedly produce an ad-hoc transmissions
schedule for dissemination. In the randomized protocol only the network
characterization is needed, whereas the deterministic protocol requires full
knowledge of affectance. Our theoretical analysis provides guarantees on
schedule length. We also present simulations of a real network-deployment area
contrasting the performance of our randomized protocol, which takes into
account affectance, against previous work for interference models that ignore
some physical constraints. The striking improvement in performance shown by our
simulations show the importance of utilizing a more physically-accurate model
of interference that takes into account other effects beyond distance to
transmitters.
