Energy-aware wireless mesh network deployment using optimization mechanism

Abstract

Wireless mesh networks are widely used to create network infrastructure in rural areas due to their flexible properties, such as self-healing mechanisms and associated redundant paths. For example, a wireless mesh network can suitably operate with limited battery power in wildlife monitoring applications. The locations of mobile routers to support mobile sensor nodes are essential for extending the system lifetime. This study proposes an energy-aware wireless mesh network deployment optimization mechanism. The goal is to determine a suitable location for the mesh routers with the aim of maximizing network lifetime. After the location solution is obtained from the proposed mechanism, it is then evaluated for system lifetime and network performance by the network simulator (ns-3). The proposed method outperforms the brute-force method in terms of computation time for all amounts of mesh clients. For example, for 30 mesh clients, the proposed method uses only a few minutes, while the brute-force mechanism requires more than 200 minutes to complete the process. Furthermore, compared to the brute-force method, it achieves nearly the same system lifetime and other performance parameters, such as throughput, packet delivery ratio, and packet inter-arrival time. In the real implementation, in which the sensor node placements can be changed during the installation period owing to the environmental status or the recommendation of the installers, the results can be recalculated in a short period.