Adaptive Topology Control for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

In MANETs, mobile devices are usually powered by batteries with limited energy supplies. Topology control is a promising approach, which conserves energy by either reducing transmission power for each node or preserving energy-efficient routes for the entire network. However, there is empirically a trade-off between the energy efficiency of the nodes and routes in a topology. Besides, it may consume considerable energy to maintain the topology due to node mobility. In this paper, we propose an adaptive topology control protocol for mobile nodes. The protocol allows each node to decide whether to support energy-efficient routing or conserve its own energy. Moreover, it can drastically shrink the broadcasting power of beacon messages for mobile nodes. We prove that any reconstruction and change of broadcasting radius converge in four and five beacon intervals, respectively. The experimental results show that our protocol can significantly reduce the total energy consumption for each successfully transmitted packet, and prolong the life times of nodes, especially in high mobility environments.