Efficient management of clock drift in preamble sampling mac protocols for wireless sensor networks

Abstract

In this paper, the design of an energy-efficient Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol for low traffic Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is presented. The protocol, Dynamic Preamble Sampling MAC (DPS-MAC), is based on the existing preamble sampling MAC layer solutions for WSNs. Unlike its predecessors, DPS-MAC does not cater for the worst case clock drift but rather, it dynamically adjusts its operation to the clock drift experienced between any two communicating nodes. In this way, the energy previously expended on overcoming the problem of clock drift is reduced, leading to longer node and network lifetimes.