RMC: An Energy-Aware Cross-Layer Data-Gathering Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) consist of miniature devices with sensing, computation and wireless communication capabilities. They are typically designed for hostile environments, where recharging a node is impractical. Thus, energy efficiency is vital. For substantial energy savings, cross-layer information sharing and in-network processing among sensors have emerged as promising solutions. In this paper, we propose an energy-aware cross-layer data-gathering protocol for WSNs, termed RMC. By integrating the routing, MAC and clustering protocols, RMC is a scalable collision-free protocol. RMC is designed to address the overhead caused by managing the transmissions schedule. To this end, RMC works by defining a dependence relation between a node's transmission schedule and its location. Therefore, each node can determine its schedule and forwarding path entirely locally. Its performance is extensively evaluated through simulations and is shown to have significant improvement over well-known comparable cross- layer scheme.