An energy-efficient routing protocol for ad-hoc cognitive radio networks

This paper proposes a routing protocol enriched with an assigning mechanism and a capacity-aware scheme, enabling for efficient data flow coordination and energy conservation, among networking nodes with heterogeneous radio spectrum availability in ad-hoc cognitive radio networks. The proposed assigning mechanism is able to effectively determine efficient routing paths in a distributed networking architecture, designed based on a simulation scenario, where networking nodes operate over television white spaces (TVWS). The main target of routing in this simulation scenario is to provide optimal, high throughput data transfer, by efficiently selecting the best routing paths. Towards enabling Energy-Efficiency in the proposed research approach, a Backward Traffic Difference (BTD) estimation methodology is exploited. The novelty adopted in the proposed capacity-aware scheme arises by the ability to utilize different assignments of sleep-wake schedules, depending on different incoming traffic that each networking node receives through time. The validity of the proposed energy efficient routing protocol is verified, by conducting experimental simulations and obtaining performance evaluation results. Simulation results validate routing protocol efficiency for minimizing energy consumption, maximizing resources exchange between networking nodes and minimizing routing delays in ad-hoc cognitive radio networks.