Distributed Algorithms for Transmission Power Control in Wireless Sensor Networks

Martin Kubisch, Holger Karl, Adam Wolisz, Lizhi Charlie Zhong, Jan Rabaey

Proceedings WCNS03, IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference, New Orleans, March 2003

In a wireless, multi-hop sensor network, choosing transmission power levels has an important impact on energy efficiency and network lifetime. Two algorithms for dynamically adjusting transmission power level on a per-node basis are proposed here. Network lifetime, convergence speed as well as resulting network connectivity are used as figures of metric for these two algorithms. They have been evaluated in an indoor sensor environment. The network lifetime metrics of these two local algorithms are also benchmarked against power control algorithms using global information. We show that these local algorithms outperform fixed power level assignment and that the lifetime achieved by them is usually within a factor of two of a globally computed solution while being scalable.