Performance analysis of MAC protocols for wireless sensor networks.

• Main Author: Ma, Haoling
• Other Authors: Cai, Lin
• Language: English; en
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: Communications; Systems; Argos; WSNs; UVic Subject Index::Sciences and Engineering::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1828/1820

A sensor network is comprised of a large number of sensor nodes with limited power, which collect and process data from a target domain and transmit information back to specific sites, such as, headquarters and disaster control centers. Since the wireless communication channel shared by sensor nodes is broadcast in nature, a Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol is needed to specify how nodes share the channel, which plays a central role in the performance of a sensor network. In this thesis, we investigate the performance of randomized and time hopping Aloha MAC protocols by theoretical analysis and simulations. The first part of our research formulates the multiple access collision problem raised from the ARGOS satellite telemetry system. We analyze the factors that affect the performance of the system and derive the mathematical model. We simulate the system and generate valuable performance results for design purpose. In the second part of the thesis, we extend our research to sensor networks with Impulse Radio Ultra WideBand (IR- UWB) physical layer defined in IEEE802.15.4a. We analyze and model the time hopping Aloha MAC protocol and verify the results with simulations using NS-2 network simulator.