A MAC Protocols using Networks

Wireless sensor networks are appealing to researchers due to their wide range of application in several fields such as military settings, critical infrastructure protection, target detection and tracking, environmental monitoring, industrial process monitoring etc. Communication among wireless sensor nodes is usually achieved by means of a unique channel. It is the characteristic of this channel that only a single node can transmit a message at any given time. Therefore, shared access of the channel requires the establishment of a MAC protocol among the sensor nodes. The objective of the MAC protocol is to regulate access to the shared wireless medium. In this paper, I first outline the sensor network properties that are crucial for the design of MAC layer protocols. Then, describe several MAC protocols proposed for sensor networks emphasizing their strengths and weaknesses. Finally, I point out open research issues on MAC layer design.