Energy-Efficient Infrastructure Formation in MANETs

In this paper, we propose a novel protocol for wireless mobile ad hoc networks, which establishes a dynamic wireless mobile infrastructure. The proposed protocol, namely, the Power-Aware Virtual Base Stations (PA-VBS) protocol, mimics and maintains the operation of the conventional fixed infrastructure in cellular networks. In the PA-VBS protocol, a mobile node is elected from a set of nominees to act as a temporary base station within its zone based on its normalized power value. Likewise, we study the characteristics and performance of PA-VBS by means of simulation. It is shown that PA-VBS scales well to large networks of mobile stations, and that it outperforms other infrastructure-formation protocols in terms of load balancing.