Abstract : Energy efficiency is a key issue in wireless ad hoc and sensor networks. In order to maximize network lifetime, several directions have been explored, among them energy efficient routing. In this paper, we show how to extend the standardized OLSR routing protocol, in order to make it energy efficient. This extension selects the path minimizing the energy consumed in the end-to-end transmission of a flow packet and avoids nodes with low residual energy. As it has been shown that two-path routing is energy efficient, we compare this extension with a two-path source routing strategy (with different links or different nodes). Moreover, to take into account residual node energy, the native selection of multipoint relays of OLSR is changed. Three selection algorithms based on the minimum residual energy are evaluated. An extensive performance evaluation allows us to choose for EOLSR (Energy efficient OLSR) the best variant maximizing both network lifetime and delivery rate.
