Performance and energy efficiency of position-based routing in IEEE 802.15.4a low data rate Wireless Personal Data Networks

The IEEE 802.15.4a standard provides a framework for low data rate communications systems, typically sensor networks, with ranging and positioning capabilities. This work focuses on the analysis of the impact of position information on routing performance in a network of IEEE 802.15.4a-compliant devices. The well known Ad hoc On demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing protocol is compared with the position-based Greedy Perimeter Stateless Routing (GPSR) protocol, taking advantage of the position information provided by a distributed positioning protocol. The comparison is carried out in terms of throughput and consumed energy per bit, and by taking into account all transmitted and received packets, including the additional ones generated by the distributed positioning protocol. Simulation results show that the introduction of position information can lead to significant improvements in both throughput and energy efficiency. Results also show that the energy efficiency of the position based routing protocol is affected by the accuracy of the position information provided by the positioning protocol, in turn depending on the network density.