Minimizing inter-cluster interference by self-reorganizing MAC allocation in sensor networks

This paper presents a Self-Reorganizing Slot Allocation (SRSA) mechanism for TDMA based Medium Access Control (MAC) protocols in wireless sensor networks. With TDMA, a node can achieve significant energy savings by remaining active only during allocated slots for transmissions and receptions. In multi-cluster networks, it is often necessary for nodes to use either CDMA or FDMA for preventing interference across neighbor clusters. The goal of this paper is to provide an alternative design that can reduce inter-cluster TDMA interference without having to use spectrum expensive CDMA or FDMA. The primary contribution of this paper is to demonstrate that with adaptive slot allocation, it is possible to reduce such interference under low loading conditions, which is often the case for sensor networks with monitoring applications. The second contribution is to design a feedback based adaptive allocation protocol that can significantly reduce those interferences without relying on any global synchronization mechanisms. We present the design of SRSA and provide a simulation based characterization of the protocol in comparison with TDMA-over-CDMA, TDMA with random slot allocation and CSMA MAC protocols. The results indicate that with moderate cluster overlapping and low traffic loading, SRSA can significantly reduce inter-cluster TDMA interference while delivering TDMA-over-CDMA like energy efficiency, at the cost of higher delivery latency. Assuming its low complexity and narrow-band operation, SRSA can be an ideal sensor MAC protocol for applications that can tolerate relatively larger delivery latency but not frequent packet drops.