A New Power-Aware Distributed Topology Control Algorithm for Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

Each node in a wireless multi-hop network can adjust the power at which it makes its transmissions and thus change the topology of the network to save energy by choosing a smaller number of neighbors with which it communicates directly. The Directed Relative Neighborhood Graph (DRNG) algorithm is among the most popular, efficient and versatile topology control algorithms that reduces energy costs while preserving connectivity. In this paper, however, we identify two key limitations of DRNG and address them in a new power-aware distributed topology control algorithm called Inclusive DRNG. We show that the Inclusive DRNG algorithm can cut down the energy cost of executing the topology control algorithm itself to as low as one-third that of executing DRNG. We further show that Inclusive DRNG also generates a topology that achieves a significant improvement of over 25% in the average energy cost of communication across a path between any two nodes in realistic irregular radio environments.