Lifetime prediction routing in mobile ad hoc networks

One of the main design constraints in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) is that they are power constrained. Hence, every effort is to be channeled towards reducing power. More precisely, network lifetime is a key design metric in MANETs. Since every node has to perform the functions of a router, if some nodes die early due to lack of energy, it will not be possible for other nodes to communicate with each other. Hence, the network will get disconnected and the network lifetime will be adversely affected. This paper presents a lifetime prediction routing protocol for MANETs that maximizes the network lifetime by finding routing solutions that minimize the variance of the remaining energies of the nodes in the network. Although this scheme introduces some additional traffic, simulations show that it improves the network lifetime by about 20-30%.