A Game-Theoretical Power and Rate Control for Wireless Ad Hoc Networks with Step-up Price

Qing CHEN
Zhisheng NIU

Publication
IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Communications   Vol.E88-B    No.9    pp.3515-3523
Publication Date: 2005/09/01
Online ISSN: 
DOI: 10.1093/ietcom/e88-b.9.3515
Print ISSN: 0916-8516
Type of Manuscript: Special Section PAPER (Special Section on Advances in Ad Hoc Mobile Communications and Networking)
Category: 
Keyword: 
ad hoc networks,  power control,  spatial reuse,  rate adaptation,  game theory,  Nash equilibrium,  

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Summary: 
In contention-based wireless ad hoc networks, power control is an efficient way to improve the spatial reuse by allowing multiple pairs to communicate simultaneously. In this paper, we propose a game-theoretical approach for joint power and rate control in ad hoc networks, where the transmit rate of each link is maximized. Meanwhile we consider the transmit power as the cost, since higher power leads to higher interference and more energy consumption. In particular, we introduce a novel auction-like pricing algorithm in which the cost per unit power steps up until the network settles down at a Nash equilibrium, which is a feasible power and rate allocation, even when the Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio (SINR) requirements are initially infeasible. Numerical results show significant throughput improvement and energy consumption savings compared with the previously proposed algorithm that defers the link with minimum SINR.