Contention-based node selection with applications to relay communications and load balancing

Abstract

This article proposes and analyzes a distributed probabilistic selection protocol in which several nodes perform a random access competition on a shared slotted channel. Nodes that are better suited according to some metric are preferred in the random access and are thus selected with high likelihood. Analytical performance studies are made in terms of reliability, message complexity, and delay. The protocol is applied in two case studies: relay communications and load balancing in wireless networks. In relay communications, a node is selected based on its channel state to serve as relay. In load balancing, a node is selected based on its battery charge state to perform a task. Results indicate that selecting nodes based on the observed metric contributes to better performance and longer network lifetime. © 2013 Liao et al.; licensee Springer.