Distributed range assignment for reliable channel access and reuse in ad-hoc networks

The available bandwidth in an ad-hoc network can decrease rapidly due to the shared access to the communication channel. Power control can enhance the available bandwidth by allowing non-interfering nodes to communicate simultaneously. A number of power aware topology control algorithms have been proposed, where low power transmissions are used to forward data. However evaluating the power level for the data packets is not sufficient. Reliable transmission of the data packets in a shared channel network requires a number of signalling messages at the medium access channel (MAC) layer. The transmission power of the signalling messages is crucial for both reliable access and channel reuse. We propose a distributed range assignment algorithm (DRA). That can be applied to a power aware topology control algorithm, to evaluate an appropriate power for the signalling messages. A worked example and a simulation based analysis of DRA applied to a Distributed Relative Neighbourhood Graph is provided. Furthermore, a study on the impact of the transmission range, on the power usage and channel reuse is conducted.