Traffic-based energy efficient MAC protocol for wireless sensor networks

The sensor node's battery power shows a key part in the sensor network's lifespan. The various existing medium access control protocols do not consider various factors like the sensor's traffic load and battery life, which lead to more energy consumption. In order to solve this problem, a new protocol called the traffic-based energy efficient MAC TBEMAC protocol is proposed for wireless sensor networks. It includes two stages, namely, the duty cycle adjustment phase and the wakeup schedule phase. In the duty cycle adjustment phase the sensor node's duty cycle is adjusted based on the sensor's traffic load, buffer status and battery life. In the wakeup schedule phase, TBEMAC groups organises the nodes in each corona based on their battery life and traffic load. The active time AT period, is also identified from the wakeup time slots of each node, which greatly reduces idle listening and energy consumption. The simulation results prove that the extension and dynamic adjustment of the duty cycle of the sensor nodes greatly improves data effectiveness, and reduces end-to-end delay.