Evaluation of compression for energy-aware communication in wireless networks

Abstract

In accordance with the development of ICT-based communication, energy efficient communication in wireless networks is being required for reducing energy consumption, cutting down greenhouse emissions and improving busmess competitiveness. Due to significant energy consumption of transmitting data over wireless networks, data compression techniques can be used to trade the overhead of compression/decompression for less communication energy.

Careless and blind compression in wireless networks not only causes an expansion of file sizes, but also wastes energy. This study aims to investigate the usages of data compression to reduce the energy consumption in a hand-held device. By conducting experiments as the methodologies, the impacts of transmission on energy consumption are explored on wireless interfaces. Then, 9 lossless compression algorithms are examined on popular Internet traffic in the view of compression ratio, speed and consumed energy. Additionally, energy consumption of uplink, downlink and overali system is investigated to achieve a comprehensive understanding of compression in wireless networks. Moreover we also discuss the relation between file contents and wireless network status in the perspective of energy consumption and propose proper ways to deploy compression in energy-aware communication.