Energy Saving Routing Algorithm Based On Stable Zone In Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Mobile ad hoc network is a self organized and multi-hop wireless network that consists of some mobile terminates and frees from any central infrastructure. It usually offers temporary communicate facilities to some special environment such as battlefields, disaster areas and provisional meetings which are inconvenient to layout traditional network. With the development and progress in technology, the use of mobile ad hoc network is becoming more and more popular. Each node in mobile ad hoc network is of strong flexibility and can serve as router or host. Compared with other communication networks, mobile ad hoc network has many features like dynamic network topology, limited wireless transmission bandwidth and physical safety, and constrained node energy and so on. The routing technology is where the key of mobile ad hoc network stands and it is one of the most important factors that affect the performance of the whole network. The nodes in mobile ad hoc network are powered by batteries which have limited power, so it becomes a significant index to judge whether a routing protocol is good or not to reduce energy consumption, prolong nodes’life time and delay network partition.Firstly, it summarizes the definition, features, applications, key technologies and the main research problems of ad hoc network. Secondly, it analyzes the problems exist in the field of routing design and introduces the current routing protocols of mobile ad hoc network in different kinds. Thirdly, it concludes several existing energy saving mechanisms and power control strategies in mobile ad hoc network. According to some present energy efficient routing algorithms, an energy saving strategy based on stable zone which is divided by a distance threshold is proposed. It then calculates the link availability and takes path availability as a metric to choose the route. The GMM algorithm selects the route which has the maximum minimal link availability and the CMM algorithm selects the route which is of least hops or distance on the condition of same path availability. In current routing protocols, the node usually uses the largest power to communicate with each other which may lead to fast energy consumption, by extension, shorten their lifetime that is not good for the network. It takes advantage of the power control mechanism in MAC (Medium Access Control) layer to make the node adjusts its transmitting power according to the location of its next hop so as to reduce the total energy consumption.Finally, it uses the simulation tools of Matlab to compare the proposed algorithms with DSR (Dynamic Source Routing) concerning some key parameters such as hops, energy consumption and network lifetime. The simulation results show that the algorithms based on stable zone strategy are simple and efficient which can effectively reduce network energy consumption and prolong its lifetime and CMM is better than GMM algorithm in high density networks.