Transmission range designation broadcasting methods for wireless ad hoc networks

Abstract

The broadcast operation in ad hoc wireless networks is essential, but expensive in terms of power consumption. In DP (dominant pruning) algorithms, the number of forward nodes is treated as a criterion to measure the consumed power. However, this principle is not suitable anymore if the power-adaptive characteristic is supported and each node can detect the strength of a received packet and tune its transmission power level. Thus, in this paper, we propose a modified version of the DP algorithm with the objective being to minimize the total power consumption of forward nodes. Comparing with original DP algorithms, the sender in our algorithm not only chooses its forward nodes, but also designates the transmission ranges of its forward nodes. As a result, the designated transmission ranges not only maintain the same coverage as DP algorithms, but also reduce the total power consumption. We propose a new forward nodes selection process where the weight of a node is dependent on the incremental transmission cost rather than the effective degree. Although the resultant number of forward nodes in the proposed approach is often greater than DP algorithms, the power consumption shown in simulations is less than DP algorithms. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.