A Low-Latency, Information-Centric Medium Access Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

In this paper we present a novel TDMA-based medium access control (MAC) protocol for wireless sensor networks. Unlike conventional MAC protocols which function independently of the application, we introduce an Adaptive, Information-centric and Lightweight MAC(AI-LMAC) protocol that adapts its operation depending on the requirements of the application. We also present a completely localised data management framework that helps capture information about traffic patterns in the network. This information is subsequently used by AI-LMAC to modify its operation accordingly. We present preliminary results showing how the MAC protocol efficiently manages the issues of fairness, latency and message buffer management.