Multibeam antenna-based topology control with directional power intensity for ad hoc networks

This paper proposes a new approach that applies multibeam directional antennas to controlling topology by reducing the power intensity directionally instead of omnidirectionally. In contrast to omnidirectional topology control, which reduces transmission power (and, thus, the resulting transmission range) in all directions, the proposed approach maintains the original power range in certain directions while clearing the power intensity in other directions. This paper shows that the proposed approach and the. omnidirectional topology control approach are equivalent in terms of the probability distribution of the number of symmetric neighbors in their resulting topologies. Major benefits of this approach include reduced and steady hop count, power saving independent of the number of neighbors within the original power range, and symmetric link in terms of SNR quality, as compared to omnidirectional topology control approaches. Simulation studies have demonstrated these benefits and highlighted its trade-offs.