A Testbed Evaluation of Energy-Efficiency of Routing Protocols in Battery-Powered Wireless Mesh Networks

Wireless mesh networks have been shown to be an appropriate technology for rural areas. However, in most African countries, electricity is scarce in rural areas. A candidate solution to the power-constraint problem in these areas is the use of solar/battery-powered nodes. Different protocols at different layers have varying effects on the energy consumption of the nodes. However, it is not clear how these protocols affect the energy consumption of a battery-powered node in a testbed environment. This paper evaluates the influence of AODV and OLSR on the lifetime of battery-powered nodes when subjected to different transmission power levels and payload sizes. An indoor testbed evaluation indicates that OLSR at maximum transmission power with maximum payload outperform others with regards to packet delivery ratio, average throughput and average energy cost per bit. Whilst AODV at minimum transmission power with maximum payload performs best with regards to the node lifetime.