The New Jersey Institute of Technology's
Electronic Theses & Dissertations Project

Title:	Energy-efficient multi-criteria packet forwarding in multi-hop wireless networks
Author:	Egoh, Komlan
View Online:	njit-etd2012-059 (xiii, 110 pages ~ 1.0 MB pdf)
Department:	Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Degree:	Doctor of Philosophy
Program:	Computer Engineering
Document Type:	Dissertation
Advisory Committee:	Rojas-Cessa, Roberto (Committee co-chair) Ansari, Nirwan (Committee co-chair) Personick, Stewart D. (Committee member) Simeone, Osvaldo (Committee member) Wang, Guiling (Committee member)
Date:	2012-05
Keywords:	Packet forwarding Multicriteria decision Relay selection Power modeling Mesh forwarding Energy optimization
Availability:	Unrestricted
Abstract:	Reliable multi-hop packet forwarding is an important requirement for the implementation of realistic large-scale wireless ad-hoc networks. However, packet forwarding methods based on a single criterion, such as the traditional greedy geographic forwarding, are not sufficient in most realistic wireless settings because perfect-reception-within-rangecannot be assumed. Furthermore, methods where the selection of intermediate relaying nodes is performed at the transmitter-side do not adapt well to rapidly changing network environments. Although a few link-aware geographic forwarding schemes have been reported in the literature, the tradeoffs between multiple decision criteria and their impact on network metrics such as throughput, delay and energy consumption have not been studied. This dissertation presents a series of strategies aimed at addressing the challenges faced by the choice of relay nodes in error-prone dynamic wireless network environments. First, a single-criterion receiver-side relay election (RSRE) is introduced as a distributed alternative to the traditional transmitter-side relay selection. Contrary to the transmitter- side selection, at each hop, an optimal node is elected among receivers to relay packets toward the destination. Next, a multi-criteria RSRE, which factors multiple decision criteria in the election process at lower overhead cost, is proposed. A general cost metric in the form of a multi-parameter mapping function aggregates decision criteria into a single metric used to rank potential relay candidates. A two-criteria RSRE case study shows that a proper combination of greedy forwarding and link quality leads to higher energy efficiency and substantial improvement in the end-to-end delay. Last, mesh multi-path forwarding methods are examined. A generalized mesh construction algorithm in introduced to show impact of a mesh structure on network performance.