Collision avoidance scheme in energy constrained wireless sensor networks using MAC Protocol

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) find applications in remotely monitoring and tracking many objects. These networks are battery driven and hence a major constrain in a WSN is its low energy. One of the factors that reduce the energy efficiency is collision. In WSNs, the density of transmission for packets through the medium is often very high and as a result the traffic flow would be increased. These networks also experience a phenomenon which is very common known as congestion. Congestion results in huge packet loss and thus hinders reliable event perception. This paper is aimed at avoiding the congestion in WSNs, by making use of a protocol that includes a transmission parameter called source count value. The rate of transmission through the contention window is determined by its size. Medium access delay can be caused due to a larger window size. The paper also tries to reduce this delay to an ideal value, by using an optimized window size. The functioning of the protocol takes place by assigning a priority value to the existing nodes, in accordance with number of packets held in it.