A non-cooperative game approach for power-aware MAC in ad hoc wireless networks

Abstract

In this paper, the problem of designing a power-aware medium access control (MAC) algorithm for Ad hoc wireless networks is considered. Based on the insights obtained from analyzing the problem in optimization framework, we formulate it as a random scheduling MAC in the game theory framework. Defining a payoff for each link as a function of its persistence probability and power, the objective of the proposed non-cooperative static power-aware MAC game (PAMG) is to find the appropriate strategy for the link in its 2D strategy space. The game theoretic aspects of PAMG including existence, uniqueness, and convergence to the Nash equilibrium are investigated analytically under some mild conditions. Based on PAMG, a message passing totally asynchronous distributed power-aware MAC (PAM) algorithm is presented. In the proposed algorithm, at each active time slot the link broadcasts a message simultaneous to its transmission. At each inactive time slot it listens to the channel to capture the other active links messages and updates its cost factor. Simulation results are provided to evaluate the convergence and performance of the algorithm and are compared to the optimal solution.