Design Challenges For Energy-

Constrained Ad Hoc Wireless Networks

Andrea J. Goldsmith, Stephen B. Wicker
IEEE Wireless Communications, August 2002.

2006. 11. 20
Summarized by Lee Chulki, IDS Lab., Seoul National University
Presented by Lee Chulki, IDS Lab., Seoul National University
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Contents
Introduction
Applications
Cross-Layer Design
Conclusions
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Introduction
Ad hoc wireless network
Peer-to-peer communication
Distributed networking and control functions among all nodes
Multihop routing
Dont think that it must be completely flat
The distinguishing emphasis in the ad hoc approach lies in the
design requirements
Energy constraints are not inherent to all ad hoc wireless
network
But some of the most exciting applications are in energy-
constrained category
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Applications
Data Networks
Data exchange between laptops, PDA
Ex) LAN
Home Networks
Using PDA in the bedroom to scan music in PC
Device Networks
Replace inconvenient cabled connections with wireless connections
Ex) Bluetooth
Sensor Networks
With Non-rechargeable battery / minimize human intervention
Distributed Control Systems
Remote plants, sensors and actuators linked together via wireless
communication channels
Ex) Automated Highway System
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Cross-Layer Design
Layered approach
Simplified network design
Led to the robust scalable protocols in the Internet
Problem
Inflexibility and suboptimality
A wide range of network requirements / energy constraints
Poor performance for ad hoc wireless networks
With Energy constraint, high bandwidth needs, delay constraints
Need Cross-Layer Design
Supports adaptivity and optimization across multiple layers
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Cross-Layer Design
Link Layer
Adapt rate, power and coding to meet the requirements of the application
MAC Layer
Adapt based on link and interference conditions, delay constraints, bit
priorities
Network Layer
Use adaptive routing protocols based on current link, network and traffic
conditions
Application Layer
Utilize a notion of soft QoS
Adapts to the network conditions to deliver the highest possible application
quality
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Cross-Layer Design
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Cross-Layer Design
Two fundamental questions
What information should be exchanged across protocol layers and
how should that information be adapted to?
How should global system constraints and characteristics be
factored into the protocol designs at each layer?

Discuss the design of the different layers
Link
MAC
Network
Application
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Link Design Issues
Goal
Achieve rates close to the fundamental capacity limits of the
channel while overcoming channel impairments using relatively little
energy
Contents
Fundamental Capacity Limits
Coding
Multiple Antennas
Power Control
Adaptive Resource Allocation
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Fundamental Capacity Limits
The maximum data rate that can be transmitted over the channel with
arbitrarily small probability of error
Researches
The capacity of an AWGN (Additive White Gaussian Noise) Channel
with B (Bandwidth), SNR (Signal-to-Noise power Ratio)
Recent works: for models that better reflect underlying current wireless
system
More concepts
Capacity per unit energy
Capacity in bits
With finite energy -> Can transmit finite bit
Information transmission
Exchange of routing information
Forwarding bits for other nodes
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Coding
Reduce the power required to achieve a given Bit Error Rate
Researches
Family of codes on graphs with iterative decoding algorithms
Ex) Turbo code
Require more signal processing power
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Multiple Antennas
Improve the performance
Reduce transmit power
Categories
Diversity
Beamsteering
MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output)
Trade-off
Save transmission power
Often require significant power for signal processing (complexity)
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Power Control
Potent mechanism for improving wireless network performance
Strategies
Maintain SINR on the link above a required threshold by increasing
power relative to fading and interference
Works well for continuous stream traffic with a delay constraint
Not power-efficient
Dynamic programming to minimize the transmit power required to
meet a hard delay constraint

Significant impact on protocols above the link layer
The level of transmitter power defines the local neighborhood
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Adaptive Resource Allocation
Provides robust link performance with high throughput while
meeting application-specific constraints.
A relatively new technique
Researches
Combinations of power, rate, code, and BER adaptation
Variation of the link layer retransmission strategy as well as its
frame size
Diversity combining of retransmitted packets or retransmitting
additional redundant code bits instead of the entire packet

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Medium Access Control Design Issues
Goal: How different users share the available spectrum?
Divide the spectrum into different channels
Assign these different channels to different users
Contents
Channelization
Random Access
Scheduling
Power Control
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Channelization
Frequency division
The system bandwidth is divided into non-overlapping channels
Simple but inflexible
Time division
Time is divided into orthogonal time slots
More flexible than frequency division
Code division
Time and bandwidth are used simultaneously by different users,
modulated by orthogonal or semi-orthogonal spreading codes
Hybrid combinations
Combinations of above methods

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Random Access
Assign channels to active users (not to idle users)
Most systems have many more total users than channels
Collision can be reduced by CSMA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access)
Make hidden / exposed terminal problem
Solutions: 4-way handshake / busy tone transmission / hybrid techniques
Researches
Sleep: more energy-efficient
Dynamic programming approach to decisions about transmissions
More flexible and more energy aware
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Scheduling
Random access protocols
Good to bursty traffic
Poor to long strings of packet or continuous stream data
Solution: not easy
Distributed scheduled access in ad hoc wireless networks in
general is an NP-hard problem.
Researches
PRMA (Packet Reservation Multiple Access)
Combines the benefits of random access with scheduling
Optimal scheduling algorithms to minimize transmit energy
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Power Control
Researches
Maintaining the SINR of each user sharing the channel above a
given threshold
Performed in a distributed manner
Strategy for multiple access that takes into account delay
constraints
For cellular systems
Centralized / distributed power control
This issue remains Active area of research
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Network Design Issues
Contents
Neighbor Discovery And Network Connectivity
Routing
Scalability and Distributed Protocols
Network Capacity
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Neighbor Discovery And Network Connectivity
Neighbor discovery
Higher transmit power, more neighbors
Require larger neighborhoods for high mobility
Connectivity
Influenced by the ability to adapt parameters at the link layer
Such as rate, power, coding
Sleep decisions are important
Network connectivity
Neighbor discovery
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Routing
Multihop routing protocols
Flooding, centralized/distributed proactive routing, reactive routing
Combination of reactive and proactive routing
Mobility
Flooding is effective under high mobility
Multipath routing: modification of flooding
A packet is duplicated on only a few paths with a high likelihood of
reaching its final destination
Energy constraints
Reactive routing is effective
With listening mode, proactive and reactive routing have roughly
the same energy consumption
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Scalability and Distributed Protocols
Scalability
Important in the design of self-configuring ad hoc wireless networks
Most work on scalability has focused on small networks (<100 nodes)
Distributed network control algorithms
The key to self-configuration
Often consume a fair amount of energy in processing and exchange
Researches
Self-organization
Distributed routing
Mobility management
QoS support
Security
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Network Capacity
Fundamental capacity limit of an ad hoc wireless network
Researches
The per-node rate in a large ad hoc wireless network goes to zero
Even with optimal routing and scheduling
So, All nodes should not communicate with all other nodes
Node mobility actually increases the per-node rate to a constant
Determine achievable rate regions using adaptive transmission
strategies
Information theoretic analysis on achievable rates between nodes
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Application Design Issues
Adaptive QoS
Unrealistic: low-capacity, mobile users, dynamic topology
Applications must adapt to time-varying QoS parameters offered by
the network
Ex) Rate-Delay trade-off curve: Decide point to operate
Application Adaptation
Ex) Video: Change compression rate
Demanding applications can deliver good overall performance under
poor network conditions if the application is given the flexibility to
adapt
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Conclusions
Cross-layer design is particularly important under energy
constraints
Energy across the entire protocol stack must be minimized

Out-of-box thinking is required
The box of layered protocol designs
The box of wireline protocols
The box of guaranteed QoS for demanding applications