An in-band power-saving protocol for mobile data networks

A new alternative is proposed for reducing the power consumption of the portable (battery-powered) units operating in a mobile packet-data network. First, a review of the current power-saving protocols is given. It is shown that the most common means for conserving power is the intermittent operation of the receivers (at the portable units) and a central administration authority that synchronizes the receivers. Some drawbacks of the synchronous operation lead us to the introduction of an asynchronous power-saving protocol, where no central synchronization is necessary and where each terminal may control its power consumption relative to its current needs. According to the proposed power-saving page-and-answer protocol, an acknowledgment paging procedure is preceding every packet transmission in order to alert mobile terminals with pending traffic. Steady-state performance is evaluated with the aid of simulation. The relationship between the achieved power-saving and the mean packet delay degradation is presented. Finally, we express some notable implementation issues and some considerations regarding the employment of this protocol as a supplementary power-saving service in microcellular mobile data networks and wireless local area networks.