  For many power-limited networks, such as wireless sensor networks and mobile
ad hoc networks, maximizing the network lifetime is the first concern in the
related designing and maintaining activities. We study the network lifetime
from the perspective of network science. In our dynamic network, nodes are
assigned a fixed amount of energy initially and consume the energy in the
delivery of packets. We divided the network traffic flow into four states: no,
slow, fast, and absolute congestion states. We derive the network lifetime by
considering the state of the traffic flow. We find that the network lifetime is
generally opposite to traffic congestion in that the more congested traffic,
the less network lifetime. We also find the impacts of factors such as packet
generation rate, communication radius, node moving speed, etc., on network
lifetime and traffic congestion.
