Energy and Connectivity Performance of Routing Groups in Multi-radio Multi-hop Networks

This paper explores the logical device aggregation of terminals in future generation networks, where the availability of several different radio access techniques is integrated by means of common radio resource management algorithms. In particular, we investigate the creation of routing groups (RGs) among adjacent nodes, which might be beneficial in order to improve connectivity, decrease signaling overhead and increase transmission efficiency. A simple analytical approach is proposed, which allows the performance evaluation of device aggregation algorithms. We measure the performance of establishing RGs with special focus on two metrics of interest: the connectivity of the nodes and the energy consumption. Within this framework, many detailed insights are obtained and presented throughout the paper. In particular, we focus on the effectiveness of these aggregation techniques in improving network connectivity and on the cost incurred in getting the extra information needed to build and maintain group structures. In the final part of the paper, we provide simulation results which further validate our discussion and highlight additional aspects that are to be considered in real scenarios. Our work is a first step in the investigation of the effectiveness of in-network aggregation of terminals equipped with multiple radio technologies. The results derived in the paper are encouraging and motivate further research on the topic.