The FIREMAN: Foraging-Inspired energy management in multi-radio Wi-Fi networks

The tremendously rapid evolution of wireless networks into the next generation heterogeneous broadband and mobile networks has necessitated the emergence of the multiradio, wireless infrastructure. These wireless infrastructural technologies have been designed in such a manner so as to enable them be self-organized, self-configured, reliable and robust, with a capacity that sustains high traffic volumes and long “online” time. However, the desired networking and complex features have resulted in unnecessary network energy consumption, impacting negatively on the economy, environment and the ICT markets. In order to reduce the potential energy consumption in these networks, this paper proposes a novel energy management scheme based on behavioral ecology. Inspired by the applied foraging theory, whereby a solitary forager in a random ecosystem makes optimal decisions that maximizes its energy (nutrients) consumption, survival probability and lifetime; a Foraging-Inspired Radio-Communication Energy Management (FIREMAN) method has been developed. The FIREMAN method achieves both optimal energy consumption and lifetime in multi-radio Wi-Fi networks. The efficacy of the new method has been extensively validated through computer simulations of the energy and throughput performance.