Abstract
Energy efficiency is a key issue in wireless ad hoc and sensor networks. Several directions have been explored to maximize network lifetime, 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. To take into account residual node energy, three new selection algorithms of multipoint relays, based on the minimum residual energy are evaluated, the best one is chosen. This OLSR 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. We compare this extension with a two-path source routing strategy (with different links or different nodes). An extensive performance evaluation shows that this energy efficient extension maximizes both network lifetime and user data delivered.