Power-aware fair infrastructure formation for wireless mobile ad hoc communications

In this paper, we propose a novel infrastructure formation protocol for wireless mobile ad hoc networks. In our proposed protocol, namely, the Power-Aware Virtual Base Stations (PA-VBS) protocol, a mobile node is elected from a set of nominees to act as a base station within its zone based on its residual battery capacity. Likewise, we study the characteristics and performance of PA-VBS by means of simulation. It is shown that PA-VBS outperforms other infrastructure-formation protocols in terms of load balancing, and attains fair clustering. PA-VBS is also shown, in our simulation experiments, to react positively to different routing loads. To the authors´ best knowledge, this is the first time that battery capacity has been used as a basis for developing a wireless mobile infrastructure, and achieving load balancing