Power Control in Ad-Hoc Networks : Theory, Architecture Algorithm and Implementation of the COMPOW protocol

We present a new protocol for power control in ad hoc networks. We describe the issues in conceptualizing the power control problem, and provide an architecturally simple as well as theoretically well founded solution. The solution is shown to simultaneously satisfy the three objectives of maximizing the traffic carrying capacity of the entire network, extending battery life through providing low power routes, and reducing the contention at the MAC layer. Further, the protocol has the plug and play feature that it can be employed in conjunction with any routing protocol that pro-actively maintains a routing table. The protocol, called COMPOW, has been implemented in the Linux kernel and we describe the…