Distance-related energy consumption analysis for mobile/relay stations in heterogeneous wireless networks

While the availability of more than one mobile or wireless technologies is enhancing the ubiquity of the Internet access, the corresponding energy consumption effects on mobile station battery for connection selection has not been investigated in depth yet. In this paper, a heterogeneous wireless network, which consists of three constituent networks, is studied with respect to the amount of data communicated and the battery operation time. Four alternative hybrid paths for separate uplink and downlink traffic, each involving more than one network, are analyzed with respect to energy consumption aspects of the mobile (and relay) station. The energy in these paths is analyzed mainly by considering the distance between communication stations while maintaining the available capacity in a sub-link at a constant level. The obtained results can be used for path selection as well as location placement for the MS/RS in order to achieve optimum amount of transferred data and battery lifetime.