Performance evaluation of routing protocols in energy harvesting D2D network

Abstract

Device-to-Device (D2D) communication is a promising technology for various applications in upcoming 5G networks. This new communication paradigm has a lot to offer in terms of increased spectral efficiency, throughput and reduced communication delay. However, challenges like interference, overhead and energy efficiency still exist In fact, energy-efficiency is considered as one of the key enablers for 5G networks, e.g. Internet of Things (IoT). The integration of energy harvesting in a D2D network not only provides energy efficiency, but allows protocols to choose between high and low data rate applications. In this paper, we have investigated the performance of wireless routing protocols in a D2D network with energy harvesting capability. To this end, we realized a realistic energy harvesting framework in NS-3. The framework consists of a solar energy harvester which rejuvenate the energy source with the real world data set Subsequently, this framework is integrated with routing layer of NS-3 simulator. Our extensive simulations elaborate the importance of an energy harvester in a typical wireless network e.g. D2D network. Experimental results show two key findings. First, proactive routing protocol, in the presence of surplus energy, outperform reactive protocols for both high and low data rate applications in terms of residual energy, consumed energy and goodput Second, the network lifetime can be enhanced through harvesting framework.