Dependability Analysis of Asynchronous Radio Duty Cycling Protocols

Radio duty cycling (RDC) is a method for making resource constrained Internet-of-Things devices more energy efficient. RDC protocols achieve energy efficiency by keeping their radio off most of the time. Asynchronous RDC (ARDC) forms a subclass in which devices are not synchronized. ARDC behavior may lead to reliability and predictability problems for broadcast and unicast message transmissions in the MAC layer when the parameters of the protocol are not carefully selected, which we demonstrate by concrete examples. We investigate the dependability issues of generic ARDC protocols and provide analytical results for parameter settings that enhance dependability, while maintaining performance of the ARDC protocols in terms of energy efficiency and link delay. We also provide an analytical comparison of two widely accepted protocols, ContikiMAC and IEEE 802.15.4e Coordinated Sampled Listening.