Hierarchical Duty Cycle Management (HDCM) protocol

Low power wireless networks gain continuously broader interest for potential applications and advance of technology. However, making a network really low power is still an open issue. An efficient way to achieve this result is to make a transceiver work in Low Duty Cycle mode. Many proposals have been presented on this topic, but they are not always that efficient. This paper presents the Hierarchical Duty Cycle Management (HDCM) protocol, a novel solution in this area that actually provides low power consumption for both end devices and routers. The reported simulation results confirm the expected advantages, as well as the side effect of a delivery latency that grows with the network dimension and diameter. For this reason, HDCM fits well Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) target applications, because of their energy constraints and delay tolerance.