TAP: Traffic-aware topology control in on-demand ad hoc networks

Energy efficiency is crucial to achieve satisfactory network lifetime in ad hoc networks. In order to reduce the energy consumption significantly, a node needs to turn off its transceiver. Many existing energy-saving algorithms are based on constructing a simplified routing backbone for global connectivity. In this paper some problems involved with node sleep in on-demand ad hoc networks are addressed firstly. Then we propose a distributed, cross-layer Traffic-Aware Participation (TAP) algorithm, where nodes make decisions on whether to sleep or not based on both the traffic pattern and local connectivity. Nodes get dynamic traffic characteristics as well as active neighbors within two hops via routing control and data packets periodically. We further present a lightweight algorithm to avoid network partition resulted from node sleeping. Simulation results show that, compared to current sleep-based topology control algorithms, TAP achieves better network service quality and lower delay while allowing comparable energy conservation.