Node residual energy balanced routing mechanism for opportunistic networks

In opportunistic networks, the node energy is limited and hard to recharge, and the energy consumption has a determinant impact on the network lifetime and performance. To solve the problem that socially popular nodes may quickly deplete their energy resources and consequently not participate in the routing process, the node activity and residual-energy are exploited to evaluate the comprehensive forwarding ability, and then an node residual energy balanced routing mechanism (NREB) for opportunistic networks is introduced. The NREB saves energy by rationally choosing the next-hop node to avoid unnecessary forwarding, which can also balance the network overhead. Simulation results show that the proposed mechanism can ensure the delivery ratio while balancing the energy consumption between nodes and thus to prolong the network lifetime. ©, 2015, Chinese Institute of Electronics. All right reserved.