Energy impact analysis on DTN routing protocols

Abstract

In this paper, a mechanism designed and implemented on a simulator module is used to study the energy consumption of a network node in a DTN. The mechanism accounts energy consumption in transmission and reception of a message and also in neighboring nodes discovery. These are routine operations performed by nodes as cell phones or PDAs that traditionally integrate the Delay Tolerant Networks. This module includes a battery recharging option, which makes the simulation environment more realistic. The energy module enables the study of the energy consumption impact on the routing protocols used by Delay Tolerant Networks. The experimental results show that, when energy consumption is considered, the optimal operating parameters of the protocols change substantially. As the search for neighboring nodes is mainly responsible for the energy consumption of the nodes, the design of new protocols whose strategy is based only on the reduction of messages exchanged may have little impact in terms of actual network performance.