Energy aware degree-based power control protocol for WSNs

Power control in wireless networks is important to maintain reliable communication links between base stations and nodes, and to maximize the battery life. An energy aware degree-based transmission power control protocol is presented in this paper. This paper first introduces a neighbor detect mechanism, which is designed to exchange node information for determining which nodes are alive and reachable. Then, connectivity set is promoted, from which the node can men decide on the set of next-hop nodes, as will be explained, shortly. We augment our distributed protocol with a heuristic that considers neighbor load information when making power control decisions. Compared to traditional protocol, our protocol also calculates the residual energy of nodes besides node degrees. Simulation results demonstrate our protocol can improve energy efficiency and prolong network lifetime.