Performance Analysis of CSMA with Preamble Sampling for Multi-hop Wireless Sensor Networks

Energy efficiency is a main consideration in the design of MAC protocols for wireless sensor networks. Traditional MAC protocols for wireless local networks are not good solutions for sensor networks. A low power multiple access protocol based on Spatial TDMA and CSMA with preamble sampling makes use of the power saving property of TDMA and preamble sampling technique to decrease the energy consumption of sensor nodes which are powered by batteries. The low power MAC protocol can be a better choice for many sensor network applications. This paper analyzes the performance of the CSMA with preamble sampling for multi-hop wireless sensor networks. The influence of the average number of neighbors, the size of preamble and data on the throughput is analyzed. The analysis results can guide the designers to determine the protocol parameters so that the desired network performances can be achieved.