Behavioral Study of Random Waypoint Mobility

Model based Energy Aware MANET

Aniket Pramanik1 , Biplav Choudhury2 , Tameem S. Choudhury3 , Wasim Arif4 , J. Mehedi5
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
National Institute of Technology, Silchar
Silchar, Assam-788010, India
aniketpramanik@yahoo.co.in1 , biplav93@gmail.com2 , salmantameem360@gmail.com3 , arif.ece.nits@gmail.com4 ,
j.mehedi@gmail.com5
AbstractMobility pattern of an adhoc network affects its
connectivity. Random Waypoint Mobility Model is widely followed by Mobile Adhoc Networks (MANET) in real world
scenario. This mobility model is popular because it represents
random motion of nodes which can move in any direction at
any moment at a random speed. In this paper, the connectivity
of a MANET, following Random Waypoint Mobility Model
has been studied. Its formula contains two parameters among
which, the first one is the number of nodes that are within the
transmission range of each other. Residual energy of the nodes
is the other parameter that has been introduced in establishment
of connectivity between nodes. Energy consumption of a node
depends on the number of applications running in it. Here,
the energy consumption index is proportional to the number
of applications running. The number of applications running
in a node is a random function which attributes to energy
consumption. Also, there are two cases among which, the first
one considers all the nodes are fully charged initially. In second
case, initial energy of each node is a random function which
also attributes to energy consumption. For both the cases, we
have studied node connectivity by changing different parameters
like number of user nodes, simulation time and simulation area
dimensions.This study of connectivity was never done before and
hence the need was felt.
Keywords: Random Waypoint Mobility Model, Connectivity,
MANET, Agent nodes, Residual Energy

I.

I NTRODUCTION

Mobile Adhoc Networks (MANET) can be described as

networks which have no fixed structure, as opposed to wired
or antenna networks. It is modelled as a wireless network in
which each individual mobile, represented as nodes, device
move within the designated area in a prescribed mobility
pattern [1]. As the nodes move according to the mobility
pattern set for it, at any time; its position, speed and the
direction of motion are decided by the mobility pattern.
In any real world scenario, the connectivity between the users
in a network depends primarily on their relative position within
the region, as it affects the signal strength, data rate and
the shortest path between them. Thus it can be inferred that
the mobility pattern plays a very crucial role in determining
the performance of the network. Some of the models which
have been simulated and studied are : Gauss-Markov Mobility
Model, Random Walk, Random Waypoint Mobility Model and
City Selection Model in [2], [3], [4], [5], [6] and the most
common out of them is Random Waypoint Mobility(RWP)
Model.
This model works by assigning every node a random destina-

tion to which it has to travel to in a randomly assigned fixed

velocity. Once it reaches its destination, a node waits for some
time called pause time and again starts its motion for a new
destination. MANETs are widely simulated using the RWP
model, as it is perfectly similar to the condition where people
use mobile phones in a given area, while at the same time they
move randomly within the area.
In this paper, the variation of connectivity with parameters
like number of user nodes, simulation time of the RWP
model, the simulation area of the network in the presence
and absence of agent nodes have been studied. A formula
has been devised for connectivity which takes into account
the number of nodes actually capable of taking part in a data
transferring network. It involves two factors, the number of
nodes within the transmission range of each other at the end
of the simulation and an energy part to simulate the battery of
a mobile device. Only devices having battery remaining greater
than a threshold are allowed to take part in the network.
II.

R ELATED WORK

RWP model has been studied earlier and applied not only
in MANETs but also in Vehicular Adhoc Networks, war front
networks.In initial studies, nodes were distributed on the basis
of sum of parameters like pause time and motion component of
each node [7]. Further advancement was obtained in the form
of probabilistic distribution of nodes in [8]. To represent a real
world scenario, a man in Melbourne was tracked to validate
features of RWP model [9].
In the modern era, Time-Based RWP model has been studied
where motion time is independent of path length travelled by
node [10]. It also gave border effect. In simulations, there used
to be decay of average node velocity that gave incorrect simulation results [11]. So, Moraes and Pontes proposed method
for stabilizing the mean node speed [12]. Moraes worked
further with Colletti and evaluated residual link lifetime of
each node in a network [13]. Thus, a need of study of variation
in connectivity of a network with respect to parameters like
simulation area, simulation time and number of user nodes,
also considering the energy of each node in the network was
felt.
III.

O BJECTIVE AND PARAMETER DEFINITION

Objective is to simulate an energy aware MANET where

nodes follow RWP mobility model; to obtain average connectivity of the network and study its variation with:-

1)
2)
3)
4)

TABLE I.

Number of user nodes

Simulation Time
Simulation Area Length
Simulation Area Width

VALUES OF

No. of Applications running

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

in different situations.
We are introducing residue energy as a parameter in establishment of connection between nodes. The consumption of
energy of any node depends on the number of applications
running at any instant of time. The number of applications
running in a node is a random function which attributes to
energy consumption.

2)

A. Network Assumptions

1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1

The energy left E(t), calculated for both the

nodes must be greater than 0.2 which means
more than 20 percent.

Each node has a supercapacitor as a source of energy.

The time constant of the supercapacitor is 500 seconds.

Network Connectivity Time: A fixed time interval

after which connectivity of the network is calculated.

Each node can run a maximum of nine applications.

There are ten different energy levels considered for

each node.

Average Network Connectivity: It is the mean of

connectivity values of the network calculated after
each Network Connectivity time or interval throughout
the simulation.

The number of applications running in a node is

generated by rand() function.

The energy level of a node at the start of simulation

is also generated by rand() function.

A node in the network that has energy left in it more

than 20% is said to be an active node and can connect
with other nodes within its range for data transfer.

An inactive node is one, that has energy left in it below

or equal to 20% and hence cannot connect with other
nodes.

B. Parameter definition

Connectivity of the network is calculated as

The energy consumption index is proportional to the

number of applications running at any particular moment.

C. Calculation of Connectivity

User node (UN) : These are the nodes representing

users which ask for network services. They can run
multiple applications and have supercapacitors as their
source of energy.
Agent node (AN): These are intermediate nodes that
provide connectivity to out of range user nodes and
hence intelligent. They rush according to the position
of distant user nodes to provide better network services.

Communication Range: The maximum distance upto

which single hop communication is possible is said to
be the Communication Range.

Connectivity: The number of mobile nodes directly

connected to a specific mobile host in its transmission
range.
A pair of node is connected if they fulfill the following
criteria:1) Both of them are within the communication
range of each other.

C=[

UN
UN X
X
2
f (i, j, t)]
][
U N (U N 1) i=1 j=i+1

(1)

where f(i, j, t) = 1 if the ith and jth users at time t satisfy the
above criteria, and f(i, j, t) = 0, otherwise [14], [15].
The connectivity of a network calculated using the given
formula always ranges from 0 to 1, which means C belongs
to [0, 1]. It is calculated after each network connectivity time
or interval which is defined as 1 second. So, n number of
connectivity values are obtained in a simulation time of n
seconds.
On obtaining n connectivity values, average connectivity is
calculated as the mean of these values,
Sum of n connectivity values
C(avg) =
(2)
n
D. Calculation of Energy
The residue energy E(t) of a node, with an initial energy
A and number of applications running in it for t seconds of
simulation is given as:E(t) = Aet/k

(3)

where k is the time constant of super capacitor of the node.

The possible values of number of applications running in a
node, is given in Table 1. The possible values of initial
energy of a node, A is given in Table 2.
IV.

S IMULATION RESULTS

There are broadly two situations:

Situation 1: Every node is completely charged at the

start of simulation. At the beginning of simulation,
random function is used for each node to generate
which depicts the number of applications running in

TABLE II.

VALUES OF A

Initial Energy in percentage

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10

A
1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1

it. The initial energy value A, for each node is taken

to be full and hence equal to 1.

Situation 2: Every node is either completely charged

or partially charged at the beginning of simulation.
Again, random function is used for each node to
generate as well as the initial energy value A, which
is either full or partial.

Fig. 1.

Snap shot of the network connectivity using agent nodes

Fig. 2.

Snap shot of the network connectivity without using agent nodes

In each case, average connectivity of the network is plotted

against four varying parameters:1)
2)
3)
4)

Number of user nodes

Simulation time
Simulation Area length
Simulation Area width

Average connectivity has been plotted against the above mentioned parameters for two scenarios:1)

2)

Agent nodes introduced with the user nodes in the

network. The blue graph represents this case.
Fig. 1 shows the positions of the user and agent nodes
after a simulation time interval of fifty seconds in
a simulation area of 10 metres x 5 metres. The red
circles are user nodes while the blue circles are agent
nodes.
Only user nodes have been introduced in the network.
Fig. 2 shows the positions of the user nodes after a
simulation time interval of fifty seconds in a simulation area of 10 metres x 5 metres. There are four
user nodes. The red graph gives this case.

Agent nodes provide better network connectivity.

Mostly, connectivity increases with increase in user

nodes but at few instances it decreases due to randomness in mobility or insufficient energy available
for connectivity due to high number of applications
running in the nodes.

A. Case I: Every node fully charged

1) Study I: The variation in connectivity of the network
with increase in number of user nodes has been plotted for
both cases as shown in Fig. 3. The input parameters are shown
in Table 3. The number of user nodes have been varied from
5 to 50. The conclusions that can be drawn are:
TABLE III.

I NPUT PARAMETERS

Simulation Parameters
Number of Agent nodes
Simulation time
User node speed interval
Agent node speed interval
Pause interval
Walk interval
Direction interval
Simulation area dimensions
Mobility model
Network connectivity time

Values
2
50 seconds
0.2 to 0.9 metres/second
0 to 0.9 metres/second
0 to 1 second
1 to 3 seconds
-180 to +180 degrees
10 metres x 5 metres
Random waypoint
1 second

2) Study II: The variation in connectivity of the network

with increase in its simulation time has been plotted for both
cases as shown in Fig. 4. The input parameters are shown in
Table 4. The simulation time has been varied from 20 seconds
to 200 seconds. The conclusions that can be drawn are:

Agent nodes provide better network connectivity.

Initially, connectivity increases with increase in simulation time and later on it decreases. The graph follows
a random pattern due to randomness in mobility or
disconnectivity due to insufficient energy of the nodes.

3) Study III: The variation in connectivity of the network

with increase in length of simulation area has been plotted for

Fig. 3.

Connectivity vs Number of user nodes

TABLE IV.

Fig. 4.

Connectivity vs Simulation time

Fig. 5.

Connectivity vs Simulation area length

I NPUT PARAMETERS

Simulation Parameters
Number of Agent nodes
Number of User nodes
User node speed interval
Agent node speed interval
Pause interval
Walk interval
Direction interval
Simulation area dimensions
Mobility model
Network connectivity time

Values
2
20
0.2 to 0.9 metres/second
0 to 0.9 metres/second
0 to 1 second
1 to 3 seconds
-180 to +180 degrees
10 metres x 5 metres
Random waypoint
1 second

both cases as shown in Fig. 5. The input parameters are shown

in Table 5. The length of simulation area has been varied from
2 metres to 20 metres. The conclusions that can be drawn are:
TABLE V.

I NPUT PARAMETERS

Simulation Parameters
Number of Agent nodes
Number of User nodes
Simulation time
User node speed interval
Agent node speed interval
Pause interval
Walk interval
Direction interval
Simulation area breadth
Mobility model
Network connectivity time

Values
2
20
50 seconds
0.2 to 0.9 metres/second
0 to 0.9 metres/second
0 to 1 second
1 to 3 seconds
-180 to +180 degrees
10 metres
Random waypoint
1 second

Agent nodes provide better network connectivity.

Network connectivity strictly decreases with increase

in length of the simulation area. It happens due to
greater availability of space for movement of user
nodes within the area . Therefore, nodes get more
scattered and connectivity decreases.

In very few instances, it increases due to randomness

in motion and lesser nodes becoming inactive.

4) Study IV: The variation in connectivity of the network

with increase in width of simulation area has been plotted
for both cases as shown in Fig. 6. The input parameters are
shown in Table 4. The width of simulation area has been
varied from 2 metres to 20 metres.

The conclusions that can be drawn are:

TABLE VI.

I NPUT PARAMETERS

Simulation Parameters
Number of Agent nodes
Number of User nodes
Simulation time
User node speed interval
Agent node speed interval
Pause interval
Walk interval
Direction interval
Simulation area length
Mobility model
Network connectivity time

Values
2
20
50 seconds
0.2 to 0.9 metres/second
0 to 0.9 metres/second
0 to 1 second
1 to 3 seconds
-180 to +180 degrees
10 metres
Random waypoint
1 second

Agent nodes provide better network connectivity.

Network connectivity mostly decreases with increase

in width of the simulation area. It happens due to
greater availability of space for movement of user
nodes within the area . Therefore, nodes get more
scattered and connectivity decreases.

In few instances, it increases due to randomness in

Fig. 6.

Connectivity vs Simulation area width

mobility and fewer nodes getting inactive.

Fig. 8.

Here, connectivity neither strictly increases nor strictly

decreases with change in simulation time. The graph
follows a random pattern due to the combined effect of
different initial energy of different nodes at the start
of simulation, randomness in mobility and different
number of applications running in different nodes.

The network connectivity decreases later on with

increase in simulation time due to more number of
nodes getting discharged on being active for longer
time.

B. Case II: Every node fully or partially charged

1) Study I: The variation in connectivity of the network
with increase in number of user nodes has been plotted for
both cases as shown in Fig.7 . The input parameters are shown
in Table 3. The number of user nodes have been varied from
5 to 50. The conclusions that can be drawn are:

Connectivity vs Simulation time

3) Study III: The variation in connectivity of the network

with increase in length of simulation area has been plotted for
both cases as shown in Fig. 9. The input parameters are shown
in Table 5. The length of simulation area has been varied from
2 metres to 20 metres. The conclusions that can be drawn are:

Fig. 7.

Connectivity vs Number of user nodes

Agent nodes provide better network connectivity.

Network connectivity strictly increases with increase

in user nodes since more number of nodes deployed
in a fixed area leads to nodes getting nearer to each
other and hence increased connectivity.
Fig. 9.

2) Study II: The variation in connectivity of the network

with increase in its simulation time has been plotted for both
cases as shown in Fig. 8. The input parameters are shown in
Table 4. The simulation time has been varied from 20 seconds
to 200 seconds. The conclusions that can be drawn are:

Agent nodes provide better network connectivity.

Connectivity vs Simulation area length

Agent nodes provide better network connectivity.

Network connectivity strictly decreases with increase

in length of the simulation area. It happens due to
greater availability of space for movement of user

nodes within the area . Therefore, nodes get more

scattered and conectivity decreases.

In very few instances, it increases again due to

randomness in motion and lesser nodes becoming
inactive. Again there is a combined effect of different
number of applications running on different nodes
with different initial energy but it gets dominated by
the effect of increase in simulation area length.

4) Study IV: The variation in connectivity of the network

with increase in width of simulation area has been plotted for
both cases as shown in Fig. 10. The input parameters are shown
in Table 6. The width of simulation area has been varied from
2 metres to 20 metres. The conclusions that can be drawn are:

extended if an algorithm is devised to control the movement

of the nodes so that it covers the whole area in a distributed
manner.
R EFERENCES
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[2]

[3]
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Fig. 10.

Connectivity vs Simulation area width

Agent nodes provide better network connectivity.

Network connectivity mostly decreases with increase

in width of the simulation area. It happens due to
greater availability of space for movement of user
nodes within the area . Therefore, nodes get more
scattered and connectivity decreases.

In few instances, it increases again due to randomness

in motion and fewer nodes becoming inactive. Again
there is a combined effect of different number of
applications running on different nodes with different
initial energy but it gets dominated by the effect of
increase in simulation area width.
V.

C ONCLUSION

This paper conclusively established the advantages of having agent nodes in our network, and the changes that are
brought into the connectivity of a MANET network due to
different changes in its specifications. The connectivity graph
also gives the maximum number of nodes needed to maintain
a required level of connectivity in our network, beyond which
any increase in the number of nodes has no significant effect in
the performance of our network, provided RWP model is used.
The addition of the energy parameter makes our formula of
connectivity better suited for a real-life scenario where battery
power is often a limiting factor. This work can be further

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