A survey on multichannel assignment protocols in Wireless Sensor Networks

Micaz motes can communicate on multiple frequencies as specified in the 802.15.4 standard. This reality has given birth to multichannel communication paradigm in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Obviously, multichannel communication mitigates interferences, jamming and congestion, whereas it brings also challenging issues. Thus, in this paper, we are motivated to draw a picture of multichannel assignment protocols in WSNs. After having identified the reasons of resorting to multichannel communication paradigm in WSNs and the specific issues that should be tackled, we propose a classification of multichannel assignment protocols, pointing out different channel selection policies, channel assignment methods and channel coordination techniques. We conclude by a recapitulative table including many examples of existing multichannel protocols designed for WSNs.