Balancing loads in mobile ad hoc networks

Mobile ad hoc network consists of freely moving nodes communicating with each other through wireless links. In this paper, we propose a load balancing algorithm for these networks with nodes having different processing powers and thus can perform extensive computations apart from forwarding packets for other nodes. These nodes will also have various degrees of battery powers as well. Due to the heterogeneity of the systems in terms of processing and battery powers, naturally, there will be load imbalance. If the workload is distributed among the nodes in the system based on the resources of individual nodes, the average execution time can be minimized and the lifetime of the nodes can be maximized. Our proposed load balancing algorithm takes into consideration several realistic parameters such as processing and batter powers of each node, and communication cost for the loads being transferred between the overloaded and underloaded nodes. Simulation experiments demonstrate that our proposed algorithm achieves performance improvements in terms of processor utilization, execution time, and balance factor.