Investigating Upper Bounds On Network Lifetime Extension For Cell-based Energy Conservation Techniques In Stationary Ad Hoc Networks

Abstract

Cooperative cell-based strategies have been recently proposed as a technique for extending the lifetime of wireless ad hoc networks, while only slightly impacting network performance. The effectiveness of this approach depends heavily on the node density: the higher it is, the more consistent energy savings can potentially be achieved. However, no general analyses of network lifetime have been done either for a base network (one without any energy conservation technique) or for one using cooperative energy conservation strategies. In this paper, we investigate the lifetime/density tradeoff under the hypothesis that nodes are distributed uniformly at random in a given region, and that the traffic is evenly distributed across the network. We also analyze the case where the node density is just sufficient to ensure that the network is connected with high probability. This analysis, which is supported by the results of extensive simulations, shows that even in this low density scenario, cell-based strategies can significantly extend network lifetime.