Ant-based energy conservation for ad hoc networks

Nodes in ad hoc networks typically rely on battery energy. The wireless interface is one of the major drain on energy reserves of the nodes. Turning off network interfaces of idle nodes while maintaining effective network forwarding capacity is an effective energy conservation technique. In this paper, we describe the Ant-Based Energy Conservation (ABEC) mechanism to prolong network lifetime. By imitating the pheromone trail laying and following behavior of biological ants, ABEC allows nodes to alter the forwarding behavior of ant packets to control pheromone trail concentration when energy consumption needs to be reduced. These nodes safely turn off network interfaces while other nodes maintain pheromone trails to preserve network coverage and forwarding performance. We present the details of ABEC and evaluate its performance when it collaborates with AODV and an ant-based routing protocol. The results show that in comparison to AODV, ABEC successfully extends network lifetime by a factor of 2 to 3, while only slightly reducing network forwarding performance.