Symmetric Coherent Link Degree, Adaptive Throughput-Transmission Power for Wireless Sensor Networks

Topology Control Protocols configure transmission power of nodes in order to achieve specific properties to a given topology. These properties include the creation and maintenance of neighborhoods or other topological entities (like trees or clusters), load balancing in terms of connectivity degrees and provision of link symmetry. We see topology control as a two-fold problem where topological properties can also be affected by local network throughput. We propose SCLD-A2TP, a protocol that operates in a two phase adaptive scheme. First transmission power is adaptively adjusted with low throughput settings and nodes achieve a sufficient degree of symmetric and coherent links. Secondly throughput is maximized insofar as the degree is maintained. We assess various distributed heuristics for SCLD-A2TP via test bed experiments and show that up to an extend, link quality and symmetry as well as degree conformity of links can be regulated successfully by transmission power and adaptive throughput control.