Joint power allocation and routing optimization in BER constrained multihop wireless networks

In this paper we investigate the problem of joint power allocation and routing optimization in BER constrained decode-and-forward (DF) and amplify-and-forward (AF) multihop wireless network. We have developed two new joint power allocation and routing strategies: minimum total power (MTP) strategy and equal power allocation (EPA) strategy. While objective function for MTP strategy is the total power which is to be minimized for BER constraint, EPA strategy provides maximum path lifetime for the BER constraint. To solve the joint problems, we would separate each problem into two sub problems, power allocation and routing problem. We derive the power allocation solutions and from these solutions we obtain routing metrics which solve the routing problem. A distributed implementation of joint power allocation and routing strategy is also presented. Our simulation results confirm that the proposed strategies achieve significant power saving and prolong the path lifetime considerably.