Traffic adaptive IEEE 802.15.4 medium access control

IEEE 802.15.4 is a new standard uniquely designed for low‐rate wireless sensor networks (WSNs). It targets low data rate, low power consumption and low‐cost wireless networking, and offers device level wireless connectivity. The purpose of this paper is to propose a traffic adaptive power control algorithm for beacon relayed distributed WSNs.

A general coordinated sleeping algorithm and the traffic adaptive algorithm are combined in an IEEE 802.15.4 MAC protocol to achieve high‐energy efficiency and high performance at the same time.

By observing the sporadic traffic and beacon relaying characteristics of WSNs, the paper proposes a traffic‐adaptive IEEE 802.15.4 MAC with a coordinated sleeping algorithm. Based on various performance studies, it was found that the proposed algorithm can significantly improve power consumptions in wireless sensor networks.

The paper is of value in proposing a traffic adaptive power control algorithm showing highly efficient power consumptions in low‐traffic conditions as well as with an acceptable degree of adaptation to high‐traffic conditions. In delay performance, it shows longer delay performance compared with other schemes because of the beacon relay procedure while the proposed algorithm reduces the power consumptions dramatically.