A Non-Cooperative Game Theoretical Approach For Power Control In Virtual MIMO Wireless Sensor Network

Power management is one of the vital issue in wireless sensor networks, where the lifetime of the networkrelies on battery powered nodes. Transmitting at high power reduces the lifetime of both the nodes andthe network. One efficient way of power management is to control the power at which the nodes transmit.In this paper, a virtual multiple input multiple output wireless sensor network (VMIMO-WSN)communication architecture is considered and the power control of sensor nodes based on the approachof game theory is formulated. The use of game theory has proliferated, with a broad range of applicationsin wireless sensor networking. Approaches from game theory can be used to optimize node level as wellas network wide performance. The game here is categorized as an incomplete information game, in whichthe nodes do not have complete information about the strategies taken by other nodes. For virtualmultiple input multiple output wireless sensor network architecture considered, the Nash equilibrium isused to decide the optimal power level at which a node needs to transmit, to maximize its utility. Outcomeshows that the game theoretic approach considered for VMIMO-WSN architecture achieves the bestutility, by consuming less power.