Cataloged from PDF version of article.With current advances in technology, wireless networks are increasing in
popularity. Wireless networks allow users the freedom to travel from one
location to another without interruption of their communication activities. Ad
hoc networks, a subset of wireless networks, allow the formation of a wireless
network without the need for a base station. Since no fixed infrastructure is
involved in the communication, the nodes of ad hoc networks can communicate
with each other or can relay data to other nodes. With this flexibility, wireless ad
hoc networks have the ability to form a network anywhere, at any time, as long
as two or more wireless users are willing to communicate.
Managing ad hoc networks is a significantly more difficult task than
managing wireline networks. The network requirements should be met by
combined efforts of all the mobile nodes themselves. The nodes of ad hoc
networks often operate under severe constraints, such as limited battery power,
variable link quality and limited shared bandwidth. In this study, the topology
design issue in ad hoc wireless networks is investigated. We employ hierarchical routing where the network topology is composed of clusters interconnected via a
root node. Cluster-based topologies are suitable for military services, an
important application area for ad hoc networks. The common power control
technique (COMPOW) is used in this thesis where all nodes transmit at the same
power level. Nodes employ the spatial TDMA (STDMA) scheme in order to
access the channel. An important task is how to produce a minimum STDMA
frame length, and this problem is known to be NP complete. We develop a
heuristic algorithm for generating the minimum STDMA frame length. A new
interference model for ad hoc networks is proposed which utilizes a hypergraph
model. The relationship between the frame length, number of clusters and the
transmit power level are investigated through numerical examples using a 15-
node network.Ergin, Sadettin AlpM.S
