On improving energy saving in ieee 802.11s wireless mesh networks under mobility conditions

Abstract

Owing to the self organizing, self configuring and self healing capabilities, Wireless Mesh Networks (WMN) have emerged as most powerful architectures in recent times. WMN operate with limited battery resources. To save energy, ieee 802.11s has introduced a mechanism called power save mode(PSM) which switches STA mode from active to light sleep or deep sleep mode when STA is not involved in transmission. Several models have been proposed by researchers to improve the energy saving mechanisms in 802.11s. Most of the researchers have considered node position as static while proposing their model. In WMN nodes are subjected to change their position over a period of time depending on the mobility mode and pattern. Under mobility conditions there could be higher energy consumption at STA compared to static cases. Hence in this work, we propose an energy saving model that involves STA mobility and trigger power save modes based on the remaining energy at each STA. The experiments have been conducted using RandomWayPoint mobility model in Network Simulator3. The behaviour of the model is observed by keeping STA position dynamic. The results show that energy consumption rate of STA is high under mobility conditions compared to static. By Implementing PSM under mobility situations, we are able save substantial energy thus increasing the life of the batteries associated with each STA in a WMN.