Lifetime evaluation in energy‐efficient rectangular ad hoc wireless networks

Ad hoc wireless network nodes are typically battery‐powered, therefore energy limit is one of the critical constraints of ad hoc wireless networks' development. This paper evaluates the network lifetime of a rectangular network model that achieves energy efficiency by optimizing the node radio range based on the geographical adaptive fidelity (GAF) topology management protocol (Proceedings of ACMMobil'01, July 2001; 70–84). We derive the optimal transmission range of nodes and analyze both static and dynamic traffic scenarios in both equal‐grid and adjustable‐grid rectangular GAF models, where the results show that the adjustable‐grid model saves 78.1% energy in comparison with the minimum energy consumption of equal‐grid model. The impact of node density on both equal‐grid and adjustable‐grid models is investigated to achieve grid‐lifetime balance among all grids to optimize the entire network lifetime. The lifetime estimation results show that without node density control the adjustable‐grid model prolongs the entire network lifetime by a factor of 4.2 compared with the equal‐grid model. Furthermore, the adjustable‐grid model with node density control is able to prolong the entire network lifetime by a factor of 6 compared with the equal‐grid model. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.