Split — Forward RR MAC protocol for energy efficient wireless sensor networks

This paper proposes RR-MAC, a medium-access control (MAC) protocol used for wireless sensor networks complemented with regulated split - forward transmissions. Wireless sensor networks (WSN) represent a range of technologies that will have profound effects across a range of medical, industrial, scientific and governmental applications. A wireless sensor network is made up of a group of sensor nodes or devices. Each device possesses the ability to monitor some aspect of its environment, and each is able to communicate its observations through other devices to a destination where data from the network is gathered and processed. While the capabilities of any single device are minimal, the composition of hundreds of devices offers radical new technological possibilities. Inspired by EM-MAC, RR-MAC protocol subjects nodes to wake up in various frequency channels at different times, in which the frequency and times are determined by pseudo number sequences. It explores new possibilities with regulated packet transmissions and split-forward mechanism. At the core of RR MAC, a central registry is employed to save power consumption and to reduce collisions which are benefitted by the use of split-forward mechanism.