Energy-efficient construction algorithm for mobile mesh networks

In this paper, we propose an autonomous control method for the movement of distributed nodes in a mobile wireless mesh network. Our approach estimates the mutual position of nodes from the received signal strength indicator (RSSI), and constructs a network using a number of autonomous moving nodes to enable wireless communication. The proposed method controls the direction of node movement using two features: (1) the dynamic allocation of reference and moving nodes, and (2) the temporal variation of RSSI. To evaluate the effectiveness of our method, we employ three criteria. First, the area coverage ratio represents the degree of coverage of the target area with nodes such as sensors or communication devices. Second, the communication stability represents the latency and connectivity in the communication between nodes. Third, the energy consumption represents travel distance between nodes. Experimental results using a network simulator demonstrate that the proposed method achieves full area coverage using less than 3.8% of the energy required by the conventional method.