RDCPF: A Redundancy-Based Duty-Cycling Pipelined-Forwarding MAC for Linear Sensor Networks

Area of Science:

• Wireless Sensor Networks
• Network Protocols
• Energy Efficiency

Background:

• Existing duty-cycling and pipelined-forwarding (DCPF) protocols reduce sleep latency and conserve energy in wireless sensor networks.
• DCPF protocols struggle with the energy-hole problem in linear sensor networks (LSNs), where nodes near the sink consume excessive energy, shortening network lifespan.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the energy-hole problem in LSNs.
• To propose a novel protocol that enhances network longevity and performance.

Main Methods:

• Deployment of redundant nodes in LSNs.
• Development of an enhanced DCPF protocol, termed redundancy-based DCPF (RDCPF).
• Simulation-based comparison of RDCPF with existing DCPF protocols.

Main Results:

• RDCPF achieves a more even distribution of energy consumption across the network.
• Significant improvements observed in network survival time.
• Reductions in packet delivery latency and enhanced overall energy efficiency.

Conclusions:

• The proposed RDCPF protocol effectively mitigates the energy-hole problem in LSNs.
• RDCPF offers superior performance in terms of network lifespan, latency, and energy efficiency compared to existing DCPF protocols.