Optimizing MAC Layer Performance Based on a Distributed Queuing Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

This paper analyzes the performance of a MAC scheme for low-rate wireless sensor networks that makes use of distributed queues to improve radio channel utilization. Analytical values first for the throughput performance, and later for the energy consumption are derived as a function of the system parameters. The obtained results show that the proposed scheme outperforms IEEE 802.15.4 MAC in terms of maximum stable throughput and overall performance, including energy consumption. These benefits are obtained from eliminating backoff periods and collisions in data packet transmissions while minimizing the control overhead. Our proposal takes advantage of being independent of the number of transmitting sensors in the system providing stability for all traffic scenarios and showing that a reduction of energy consumption compared to IEEE 802.15.4 MAC is still possible.