Are Classes of Nodes with Different Power Amplifiers Good for Wireless Multi-hop Networks?

It has been shown that optimization of wireless network operations can be achieved by transmission power control of wireless nodes. Controlling the transmission power is mostly performed as a regulation of the final power amplifier, which is the major power sink. Depending on the desired transmission power level, currently popular amplifiers work at different levels of efficiency: highest in case of maximum emitted power, lower in case of reduced emitted power. In this paper we present a novel approach for improving the liftime of mobile devices in multi-hop wireless networks by using nodes with heterogeneous efficiency characteristics of their power amplifiers. To assess the potential of such amplifier-heterogeneous networks, we have performed multi-hop network simulations under the idealistic assumption of optimal routing based on global knowledge. The obtained results demonstrate an appealing potential of a reduction in energy consumption to less than 40 % compared to classical networks with uniform amplifiers.