STELA: A transceiver duty cycle management strategy for energy efficiency in wireless communications

This paper introduces the Slow sTart Exponential and Linear Algorithm (STELA), a novel transceiver duty cycle management strategy which intelligently adapts the sleeping schedule of mobile terminal radio interfaces during multimedia data transfer over wireless networks in order to reduce energy consumption while maintaining high delivery performance. The paper presents the algorithm, a simulation-based model and performance evaluation in terms of energy consumption and network Quality of Service (QoS) parameters. The proposed algorithm, STELA, is compared with similar algorithms used by IEEE 802.11 and IEEE 802.16 MAC standard protocols. Experimental testing results demonstrate that in the context of various Constant Bit-Rate (CBR) and Variable Bit-Rate (VBR) traffic patterns, typical for multimedia content delivery, STELA reduces the energy used by the mobile device for wireless communication with up to 55%, while maintaining good network QoS levels.