A Utility-Based Joint Power and Rate Adaptive Algorithm for Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

Joint power and rate adaptation mechanisms based on hard signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) thresholds might suffer from variations of channel conditions. We propose a utility-based joint power and rate adaptation mechanism (UPRA) that is flexible against channel variations. Our mechanism selects power and rate by trading off among transmission rates, frame error rate and power consumption. By setting soft SINR requirement (utility) and considering the penalty of power consumption (cost), balancing could be achieved. The scheme is based on the non-cooperative game theory resulting in cooperation among nodes. This framework provides a promising policy when both the power and rate are controllable. Simulation results show significant improvements on throughput and energy consumption over the algorithm based on hard SINR thresholds.