A hybrid power‐saving protocol by dual‐channel and dual‐transmission‐range clustering for IEEE 802.11‐based MANETs

Abstract

PurposeThere are two types of medium access control (MAC) layer power‐saving (PS) protocols for IEEE 802.11‐based mobile ad hoc networks: synchronous and asynchronous ones. This paper seeks to propose a hybrid PS protocol to take advantages of both types of protocols.Design/methodology/approachThe protocol utilizes the concept of dual‐channel and dual‐transmission‐range clustering. It divides all the hosts into clusters. Each cluster has a head and all the heads are organized as a virtual backbone to help route data. The protocol also utilizes the cluster head dismissal mechanism to avoid the ever‐increasing of cluster heads and to adapt to topology changing.FindingsSimulation results demonstrate that the proposed protocol is more power‐efficient and more scalable than related protocols.Originality/valueThe proposed protocol is applicable to MANETs composed of hosts with single IEEE 802‐11 network interface card.