Performance of local power control in peer-to-peer impulse radio networks with bursty traffic

We present and investigate the performance of an impulse radio system with bursty traffic in a peer-to-peer network, with a combination of a bit rate variation scheme and a local power control algorithm. The peer-to-peer architecture considered is motivated by survivability, covertness, and the need for rapid deployment. Because the performance of a peer-to-peer architecture is topology dependent, we develop a model for generating random configurations of peer-to-peer links, and use the model to analyze the performance of the peer-to-peer network. Power control and bit rate variation techniques are developed to minimize the fraction of time that the aggregate transmitted power exceeds a given threshold. This fraction is further reduced by making initial power assignments based on local information available at connection set-up and by augmenting the closed loop power control scheme with an open loop power level adjustment. The amount of open loop power adjustment made depends on the change in processing gain due to bit rate variation. Simulation results are presented that show the performance of the peer-to-peer system with power control and bit rate variation schemes for different topologies.