A polling MAC for wireless sensor networks with RF recharging of sensor nodes

Abstract

Prolonged lifetime of wireless sensor networks can be accomplished by using RF energy transfers that replenish the power sources of individual sensors, or a group of sensors. In this paper we describe a polling-based MAC protocol that uses the same RF band for both energy transfers and data communications, and thus must use interleaving of the two. We investigate the impact of network and traffic parameters on the performance of the network, and highlight some design choices that would optimize the performance.