Funneling-MAC: a localized, sink-oriented MAC for boosting fidelity in sensor networks

Sensor networks exhibit a unique funneling effect which is a product of the distinctive many-to-one, hop-by-hop traffic pattern found in sensor networks, and results in a significant increase in transit traffic intensity, collision, congestion, packet loss, and energy drain as events move closer toward the sink. While network (e.g., congestion control) and application techniques (e.g., aggregation) can help counter this problem they cannot fully alleviate it. We take a different but complementary approach to solving this problem than found in the literature and present the design, implementation, and evaluation of a localized, sink-oriented, funneling-MAC capable of mitigating the funneling effect and boosting application fidelity in sensor networks. The funneling-MAC is based on a CSMA/CA being implemented network-wide, with a localized TDMA algorithm overlaid in the funneling region (i.e., within a small number of hops from the sink). In this sense, the funneling-MAC represents a hy...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: SENSYS
• Authors: Gahng-Seop Ahn, Se Gi Hong, Emiliano Miluzzo, Andrew T. Campbell, Francesca Cuomo
• Keywords: Funneling, Funneling Effect, Sensor Networks, SENSYS 2006