Title: IEEE 802.15.4 MAC for clustered WSNs with a directional framework

Authors: Md. Asdaque Hussain; Md. Nasre Alam; Kyung Sup Kwak

Addresses: UWB Communications Research Center, Graduate School of IT and Telecommunication, Inha University, Incheon 402-751, South Korea ' UWB Communications Research Center, Graduate School of IT and Telecommunication, Inha University, Incheon 402-751, South Korea ' UWB Communications Research Center, Graduate School of IT and Telecommunication, Inha University, Incheon 402-751, South Korea

Abstract: This paper exploits the directionality in the wireless sensor network (WSN) by using single-beam and multibeam directional antennas. We mount a multibeam smart antenna (MBSA) with a main sink cluster head (CH), whereas other child sink CHs and end devices use single-beam sector antennas. The unique reception and transmission property of these antennas requires a sufficient modification to suit omni mode MAC protocols. We choose IEEE 802.15.4 as the platform for the proposed MAC design and analyse the effects of these antennas on the current superframe structure. We simulate the modified MAC protocol by using the OPNET modeller under varying traffic loads and an increasing number of nodes. We find an increase in network performance in terms of delays and energy consumption and a simultaneous decrease in the level of urgency.

Keywords: MBSA; multibeam smart antenna; sector antenna; IEEE 802.15.4; wireless sensor networks; WSNs; clustering; CSMA/CA; beacon; CAP; contention access period; contention-free period; CFP; OPNET; directionality; MAC; medium access control; cluster heads; simulation; modelling; delays; energy consumption.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSNET.2014.059987

International Journal of Sensor Networks, 2014 Vol.15 No.1, pp.62 - 72

Received: 31 Dec 2011
Accepted: 08 Feb 2013
Published online: 12 Oct 2014 *

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