Transmission Power Control in Wireless Sensor Networks under the Minimum Connected Average Node Degree Constraint

As a branch of topology control, power control is of great importance to prolong the survival time of the network. A transmission power control algorithm is proposed under the minimum connected average node degree constraint in this paper. Using a Poisson point process in two dimensions, we derive an analytical expression that determines the required transmission range to achieve a specified connectivity probability for a given node density, and then the minimum connected average node degree is obtained. Based on the above results, an algorithm named MCAND is designed to achieve the given connected probability by adjusting the transmission power of each node dynamically, with the node degree equal to the minimum connected average node degree. Simulation results show that the performance of our algorithm is superior to that of the related algorithms based on node degree in terms of coverage and connectivity.