Elective participation in ad hoc networks based on energy consumption

In ad hoc networks, each node utilizes its limited resources to carry out the collective operation of the network. It is not always in the best interests of the network´s nodes to demand the continuous participation of all nodes in the network operations. We propose an energy dependent participation (EDP) scheme, where a node periodically re-evaluates its participation in the network based on the residual energy in its battery. More importantly, a node gives special consideration to supporting the communication needs of its active network applications and preventing further network partitioning. EDP´s localized partition checking algorithm is particularly well suited for the zone routing protocol, where the link-state information is proactively maintained within each node´s local zone and routes to faraway nodes are reactively obtained via global queries. Through simulations, we evaluate the impact of our proposed scheme on battery life and network connectivity. Our results suggest that the EDP scheme can increase the usable lifetime of a battery-constraint ad hoc network by over 50%.