A cluster based time division multiple access scheme for surveillance networks using directional antennas

Surveillance networks are of importance in tactical and civilian applications. In this work we present a scheduling algorithm for a time division multiplexing based medium access control protocol for such networks, which employ directional antennas. The scheduling algorithm uses the attributes of a multi hop clustering scheme also used to aggregate data from cluster clients to cluster heads. We evaluated the scheme in networks of up to one hundred nodes to assess its scalability. The performance assessment was done using Opnet simulation tool and the results are presented for two variations of the scheduling algorithm.