Error Control Based Energy Minimization for Cooperative Communication in WSN

Abstract

As small-sized nodes are deployed in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), efficient energy utilization becomes a fundamental challenge. Poor channel conditions lead to retransmissions resulting in unnecessary energy usage. To optimize energy consumption and improve network lifetime, error-control strategies are commonly required to manage channel impairments such as noise and fading. Cooperative commu nication is also considered a candidate solution to address the effects of channel fading. Therefore, the energy efficiency of cooperative schemes when applied with Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ), Hybrid-ARQ (HARQ), and Forward Error Correction (FEC) is investigated in this work. Moreover, expressions for energy efficiency of Direct Transmission, Single Relay Cooperation, and Multi Relay Cooperation are derived. Our work focuses on achieving energy-optimal communication in WSNs. Through simulations, it is observed that error-control strategies with a cooperative scheme can significantly enhance system performance in terms of energy optimization.