Dynamic cell-Based MAC protocol for target detection applications in energy-constrained wireless networks

Abstract

Today's advances in sensor technology make it feasible to embed sensing, communication and computation capabilities in small untethered nodes. However, node lifetime is still severely restricted by the limitations of power supply. By improving power consumption efficiency of sensor node operations, a sensor node's lifetime can be significantly extended. A well designed MAC protocol can achieve this goal by minimizing the amount of data transmitted through the network. In scenarios where data retrieval operations are infrequent and localized (e.g. target detection applications), pre-configuring an entire sensor network is detrimental to power conservation. Therefore, restricting data gathering operations to nodes with valuable information can significantly reduce energy consumption. In this paper, we propose and evaluate a new MAC protocol, and demonstrate the advantages of our scheme for specific types of applications. © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2004.