A nash power-aware MAC game for ad hoc wireless networks

In this paper, a distributed power-aware medium access control (MAC) algorithm for ad hoc wireless networks is presented. The algorithm is developed based on proposing a power-aware MAC game which is analyzed in the game theory framework. The aim is to adjust each active link persistence probability and power by maximizing a defined local link payoff function. The payoff function is such that its selfish maximization at the links leads to an efficient use of medium resources and has two terms. The first term is the link utility while the second one reflects the cost of using the medium resources. The existence and uniqueness of the game Nash equilibrium are investigated analytically. Also, it is shown that this equilibrium is Pareto optimal indicating its efficiency. Simulation results are provided to evaluate the algorithm and are compared to a scenario in which only powers are tuned. This results emphasize that the link persistence and power should be adjusted simultaneously according to the link location in ad hoc networks.