Comparison of Cumulative Power Consumption with Signal Strength Variations in New Generation Wireless Networks

In this era of telecommunication, quality of service (QoS) is the prime metric for defining the performance of wireless networks. However, QoS is highly affected by the levels of signal strength. Variations in signal strength lead to several undesirable consequences, increasing wireless device's power consumption, especially during handover. In the perspective of Green Networking, to devise energy-efficient handover techniques, this paper compares the power consumption of wireless nodes under different states of affairs, leading to variations in signal strength. A vertical handover scenario between Wi-Fi and WiMAX networks was carried out to analyze the power consumption of two different sets of nodes, namely Type-I and Type-II nodes. Five different scenarios leading to signal strength fluctuations during handover were considered during the study. The initial energy levels of nodes were calculated at three different voltage levels, namely charge voltage, nominal voltage and cut-off voltage. The results explained the individual battery drainage pattern of wireless nodes with variations in signal strength under different scenarios and evaluated the cumulative power consumption of wireless nodes with variable signal strength at three voltage levels. Network performance was analyzed based on residual energy of nodes, throughput and packet delivery ratio. The cumulative analysis of power consumption presented in this paper can provide a prominent proposal of the battery drainage pattern of wireless nodes for various scenarios leading to variable signal strength, which can serve as a roadmap for devising energy-efficient mechanisms during handover in new generation ubiquitous networks.