HEC-MAC: A Hybrid Energy-Aware Cross-Layer MAC Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

Wireless Sensor Networks are a key element of the Internet of Things since they are one of the most interesting pervasive systems. However, they are battery-powered, so energy efficiency represents one of the primary design challenges to address. This goal can be primarily achieved through an optimization of the communication procedure, which is the most power-consuming component of a WSN node. Nevertheless, the poor resources of the embedded devices usually limit the complexity of protocol solutions, which thus are not sufficient to reach satisfactory results. For this reason, the current trend aims at integrating both hardware and software solutions. In this work, a cross-layer solution, based on the combined use of a duty-cycling MAC protocol and a reconfigurable beam-steering antenna, is presented and validated. It significantly reduces the nodes’ power consumption by exploiting scheduling techniques and directional communications. Specifically, a MAC scheduler manages the activation of the antenna sectors based on information coming from both MAC and network layers. This way, node awakenings occur only when an actual communication has to take place and only the interested antenna sector is activated. The effectiveness of the proposed cross-layer approach has been evaluated through OMNeT++ simulation tool.


Tutti gli autori

  • MAINETTI L. , MIGHALI V. , PATRONO L.

Titolo volume/Rivista

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DISTRIBUTED SENSOR NETWORKS


Anno di pubblicazione

2015

ISSN

1550-1329

ISBN

Non Disponibile


Numero di citazioni Wos

Nessuna citazione

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

Non Disponibile


Numero di citazioni Scopus

3

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

28/04/2018


Settori ERC

Non Disponibile

Codici ASJC

Non Disponibile