Research
On the synchronization of IEEE 802.15.5 wireless mesh sensor networks: Shortcomings and improvements
Department of Information and Communication Technologies, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena (UPCT), Campus Muralla del Mar, E-30202, Cartagena, Spain
EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking 2012, 2012:198 doi:10.1186/1687-1499-2012-198
Published: 21 June 2012Abstract
As part of the recent IEEE 802.15.5 wireless mesh sensor networks (WMSN) standard, Synchronous Energy Saving (SES) is planned to provide energy savings to scheduled communications with strict temporal requirements that, a priori, facilitate the development of delay-sensitive applications. It is accomplished by means of different mechanisms, among which we highlight a straightforward synchronization process. However, the SES synchronization scheme introduces variable delays in the dissemination of information and reduces the lifetime of the nodes and the entire network significantly, thus limiting the full exploitation of SES. This article presents a new synchronization approach, that we call High-PerformanceSynchronization Algorithm for wireless mesh sensor networks (HIPESYN), which is adapted to the IEEE 802.15.5 standard for synchronous communications. HIPESYN supports intensive bandwidth applications in a much better way than with the original design. The proposed algorithm is also thoroughly evaluated and its results carefully discussed.
