A Novel Multi Channel Sensor Network MAC Protocol

This paper proposes a media access control (MAC) layer protocol scheme that is suitable for characteristics of sensor networks (SNs). Among important attributes of SNs are limitation on power consumption, high density of nodes and topology changes. Based on time-division multiple access (TDMA) and frequency division multiple access (FDMA), we offer Multi channel sensor network MAC (MCSMAC) as a novel MAC layer protocol that is more suitable for applications with high density and/or frequent topology changes. The primary goal of MCSMAC is improved energy efficiency in sensor nodes which is achieved by low duty-cycle (with turning radio off) and by overhearing avoidance. Simulation results for three different topologies under variant traffic loads show that, in general, MCSMAC has lower energy consumption whilst yielding in relatively reduced latency compared to SMAC, SMACS and IEEE802.11.