A TDMA Algorithm for Multi-Hop Energy Harvesting Wireless Sensor Networks: Restricted Tree Topology

This paper proposes an algorithm for energyharvesting wireless sensor networks (WSNs) with restricted tree topologies. The proposed algorithm uses time-division multiple access (TDMA) and supports various transmission scenarios, including single-hop, dual-hop, and multi-hop transmissions. It allows a sensor node to synchronize either with a synchronization packet from the base station or a packet from a neighboring node within its communication range, while effectively addressing clock drift issues. The results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm performs comparably to state-of-the-art algorithm, but with a shorter time synchronization interval, as it does not perform individual synchronization of branches. In addition, the results indicate that the time synchronization interval depends on the clock drift rate, which varies across nodes.