An Evaluation Study of a Fair Energy-Efficient Technique for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Abstract

In this study, we present a performance evaluation of an energy conservation technique designed for mobile ad hoc networks. This technique was designed with energy fairness central to its operation. This algorithm is not a routing algorithm. It works with existing routing protocols to complement their functionality from an energy-efficiency perspective. We show that this technique scales well with increased network traffic and population. We also compare it to the on-demand power management algorithm, a technique specifically designed to reduce idle energy consumption. Our comparison shows that our technique performs better in terms of energy savings and fairness as well as network lifetime extension.Index Terms-Energy-efficient algorithms, mobile ad hoc networks, routing and forwarding, wireless networks. I. INTRODUCTIONOWADAYS, mobile ad hoc networks (MANET) are used in many applications [11]. Examples of these applications are conferences with attendees on the move with portable devices, sensor networks, wireless mesh networks, military operations and search and rescue operations. Multi-hop wireless networking of battery-operated devices is also a basic infrastructure of pervasive applications and architectures. Every day, new mobile communication devices are invented or enhanced with new capabilities, which adds new dimensions to the possible uses of ad hoc networks.Nodes within a mobile ad hoc network communicate via wireless interfaces. This introduces some issues to their operation. One of the most important issues is the limited energy, which is usually supplied by node batteries, that network nodes possess. Amongst other sources, energy is consumed by wireless interfaces in several modes of operation [6], [13]. While communicating, nodes expend energy in packet sending and receiving modes. It has been shown that nodes also consume energy through their wireless interfaces while idle [13]. Idle energy consumption has been shown to be significant and often represents more than 50% of the overall energy consumption of the wireless interfaces. This source of energy consumption is unwanted and should therefore be eliminated or reduced by utilizing an energy conservation strategy. In order to address this type of energy consumption, the wireless interfaces of network nodes need to be put to sleep for periods of time, especially when they are not being used to exchange useful traffic. This can introduce many

Fairness in Wireless Networks:Issues, Measures and Challenges

“…Sleeping period of nodes was assigned due to its rate in [66], which partially guarantees the rate-based-weighted fairness. Both rotational sleep scheduling and fair use of residual energy -for energyefficient operation -is considered in the algorithm proposed in [67] for mobile ad hoc networks. Even though fairness is considered with respect to sleep scheduling by many researchers, it is still treated simply as equal sleep time without involving any advanced models.…”