Abstract — The topology of wireless multihop ad hoc networks can be controlled by varying the transmission power of each node. We propose a simple distributed algorithm where each node makes local decisions about its transmission power and these local decisions collectively guarantee global connectivity. Specifically, based on the directional information, a node grows it transmission power until it finds a neighbor node in every direction. The resulting network topology increases network lifetime by reducing transmission power and reduces traffic interference by having low node degrees. Moreover, we show that the routes in the multihop network are efficient in power consumption. We give an approximation scheme in which the power consumption of each route can be made arbitrarily close to the optimal by carefully choosing the parameters. Simulation results demonstrate significant performance improvements. I.