Energy Efficient Communication Using Reconfigurable Directional Antenna in MANET

Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANET) are autonomous, infrastructure less and self-configuring networks. MANETs has gained lots of popularity due to on the fly deployment i.e. small network setup time and ability to provide communication in obstreperous terrains. Major challenges in MANETs include routing, energy efficiency, network topology control, security etc. Primary focus in this article is to provide method and algorithm to ensure significant energy savings using re-configurable directional antennas. Significant energy gains can be clinched using directional antenna. Key challenges while using directional antenna are to find destination location, antenna focusing, signal power and distance calculations. Re-configurable directional antenna can ensure significant energy gains if used intelligently. This article provides a brief insight into improved energy savings using re-configurable directional antennas and an associated algorithm.