Identification of neighbors in a long delay network using un-slotted and slotted protocols

Identification of neighbor (nodes which are within the maximum transmission range of a given node) in a wireless network is helpful in the preliminary stage of the network or in later stages in order to route or broadcast information throughout the network. Recently a number of identification procedures have been proposed for radio frequency identification (RFID) systems, which are applicable to terrestrial communication networks using electromagnetic wave. However, if those procedures are implemented in a long delay network (such as an underwater acoustic network), then a large time will be wasted due to the propagation delay. Here we propose two methods for identifying neighbors in a long delay network either un-slotted or slotted protocols. The first procedure is based on previous approaches in RFID systems with adjustment for a long delay network. The second is an improvement on the first one using an optimum number of probes. The second procedure outperforms the first with 75% improvement in time and 60% improvement with power consumption when an estimation of the number of neighbors is known earlier.