A
system and method for selecting an appropriate transmit power and
data rate at which a communication
signal is transmitted over a link between nodes in a
wireless ad-hoc communication network based on factors such as variations in
path loss in the link,
fading conditions,
noise level
estimation and overall link quality. The
system and method perform the operations of computing
path loss in the link based on information provided to the source node from the destination node pertaining to characteristics of a message that was transmitted by the source node and received by the destination node, determining a
noise factor at the destination node, and calculating the
power level and rate at which the data is transmitted over the link from the source node to the destination node based on the
path loss and the
noise factor. More specifically, the method calculates the
power level based on the path loss, the noise factor and
signal fading, and determines the rate based on the calculated
power level. Furthermore, the path loss is computed dynamically as conditions of said link change over time. Accordingly, the
system and method are capable of determining the proper level of transmit power and
data rate for assuring that the destination node will receive the data transmitted by the source node at a reliability of at least 90%.