A novel load-sharing algorithm for energy efficient MAC protocol compliant with 802.11 WLAN

We propose a new method for energy saving to transfer packet data in a wireless local area network (WLAN). The core of this method is based on load-sharing. For this reason, we propose a mathematical framework for minimizing power dissipation when transferring MAC (medium access control) protocol data unit (MPDU) using CSMA/CA. Further, we present a load-sharing algorithm enabling energy efficient transfer of MPDU. Finally, we implement the algorithm considering a typical scenario for a WLAN system using the 802.11 specification and direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) at the physical layer. The extensive simulation results show that power reduction of the excess power is 10-50% resulting in total power saving from 5-15%