An Energy-Efficient Process for Optimal Communication Synchronization in Low Power Wireless Smart Sensors

Abstract

Wireless sensor connectivity is heavily constrained by the availability of power at the sensor. With the increasing use of energy harvesting mechanisms, the need to develop wireless network connection synchronisation mechanisms, generally attributed to the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, also grows. This paper proposes a communication synchronisation method between the Network-Capable Application Processor (NCAP) and a Transducer Interface Modules (TIM), defined by the IEEE 1451, using a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) scheme. The time slot allocation is determined by a metaheuristic algorithm that inputs the device's energy state and returns the energy harvesting period, observing the impact of uncertainty as long-time energy harvesting periods will disturb the synchronisation of the devices to communicate. The synchronisation process uses the resources from IEEE 1451.0 standard. It allows devices with energetic restrictions, which do not use the communication protocols defined in IEEE 1451.5, to be accepted in a network of transducers compatible with the IEEE 1451 standard.