TDMA Protocol Requirements for Wireless Sensor Networks

TDMA is probably the best choice for an energy efficient multiple access protocol for wireless sensor networks. As such there exist many approaches of increased complexity, using different algorithms and combining information from other layers or multiple access techniques. There are many surveys detailing the protocols and their advantages and disadvantages, but we feel that they don´t give a general image of TDMA techniques, which would be useful in choosing the protocol for a network deployment, or even for someone trying to develop a new MAC protocol. We analyze the different algorithms used in TDMA protocols and we present a list of characteristics that a robust TDMA protocol requires. We also give a brief survey of several protocols.