Topology control in heterogeneous ad-hoc networks

Topology control in an ad-hoc network can provide better spatial reuse of the wireless channel and conserve power. Topology construction and maintenance is a challenging issue. A number of distributed topology control algorithms have been proposed to remove the need of a centralised controller. Distributed algorithms such as location information no topology (LINT), location information link state topology (LILT) and mobile-grid (MG), aim to achieve overall network connectivity and low transmission range by maintaining a minimum node degree value. In the case of a non-uniform node distribution, maintaining a minimum node degree can unnecessarily partition a network. In this paper, we propose a distributed algorithm that utilises one hop neighbours and their location information to maintain a number of critical links required to keep a connected network. Such critical links are included along with the links required to meet the node degree criterion. A distributed mechanism to construct and maintain a network topology is proposed, which can be integrated as part of the neighbour discovery protocol. Furthermore, nodes collaborate to remove unidirectional links. A simulation based analysts of the proposed algorithm is provided for a number of node degree values. Simulations indicate that the proposed algorithm is able to achieve higher connectivity for different node distributions.