An Adaptive and Distributed Collision-Free MAC Protocol for Wireless Personal Area Networks

AbstractWhile IEEE 802.15.4 protocol is being considered as a promising technology for WPANs (Wireless Personal Area Networks), several issues are still open. In particular, how to construct a mesh topology and how the router/coordinator can save energy while being effective. This paper deals with these problems, discusses the ambiguities regarding the use of mesh topology and proposes a new collision-free beacon scheduling mechanism to construct a mesh WPAN. The details of the protocol, ADCF MAC (Adaptive and Distributed Collision-Free Medium Access Control), will be fully described and analyzed. Preliminary simulation results show the performance of this algorithm