Swarming Medium Access Control Protocol for Large-Scale Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

This paper introduces a novel Medium Access Control (MAC) scheme for ad hoc Wireless Sensor Networks. It is based upon the emergent properties of complex systems, exploiting the concept of swarm intelligence. The benefits brought about by this approach are node simplicity and improved network scalability given very low implementation overheads. Through the co-operative operation of nodes, a network can exhibit emergent self-initialisation and organisation and is adaptive to environmental and structural changes. The protocol was developed using social concepts drawn from the field of particle swarm optimisation, alongside negative feedback concepts from control system engineering. It offers comparable or better performance (in throughput and delay) with lower complexity and less overheads for larger scale networks when compared to the widely used and simple but still very effective IEEE 802.11 CSMA/CA standard.