Transmission Capacity of Wireless Ad Hoc Networks with Energy Harvesting Nodes

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the transmission capacity of energy-harvesting wireless ad hoc networks, deriving optimal transmission probabilities and game-theoretic equilibria for ALOHA and CSMA protocols under energy constraints.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive analysis of transmission capacity considering energy harvesting, deriving optimal parameters and equilibria for ALOHA and CSMA protocols.

Findings

Optimal transmission probability for ALOHA derived as a function of energy arrivals.

Symmetric Nash equilibrium in ALOHA game-theoretic setting established.

Back-off and outage probabilities for CSMA characterized based on energy distribution.

Abstract

Transmission capacity of an ad hoc wireless network is analyzed when each node of the network harvests energy from nature, e.g. solar, wind, vibration etc. Transmission capacity is the maximum allowable density of nodes, satisfying a per transmitter-receiver rate, and an outage probability constraint. Energy arrivals at each node are assumed to follow a Bernoulli distribution, and each node stores energy using an energy buffer/battery. For ALOHA medium access protocol (MAP), optimal transmission probability that maximizes the transmission capacity is derived as a function of the energy arrival distribution. Game theoretic analysis is also presented for ALOHA MAP, where each transmitter tries to maximize its own throughput, and symmetric Nash equilibrium is derived. For CSMA MAP, back-off probability and outage probability are derived in terms of input energy distribution, thereby characterizing the transmission capacity.