Joint Aggregation and MAC design to prolong sensor network lifetime

This paper proposes JAM, a Joint Aggregation and MAC design, to improve the sensor network lifetime under the end-to-end delay constraint. The key idea is to adjust both network traffic (via data aggregation) and communication overhead (via duty-cycled MAC) in a holistic manner at each individual node as well as between neighbors. As a result, JAM extends the sensor network lifetime more efficiently and effectively than the state-of-the-art solutions while guaranteeing the desired delay bound and achieving a lower level of average nodal power consumption. JAM is a lightweight and distributed solution with limited control information exchanged between neighbors only, which makes it deployable in practical sensor networks. Extensive ns-2 simulation and TinyOS experiment results are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of JAM in prolonging the network lifetime.