An energy consumption analytic model for a wireless sensor MAC protocol

A wireless sensor network is composed of a great number of sensing devices equipped with limited power sources. Under such battery-based constraints with limited power supply, energy consumption is a key issue for designing sensor network applications. Some sensor products adopt an IEEE 802.11-like MAC protocol. However, IEEE 802.11 MAC is not a good solution for sensor networks. S-MAC (sensor MAC) proposes enhanced schemes, such as periodic sleep and overhearing avoidance, to provide a better choice for sensor applications. The paper presents an analytic model for evaluating the energy consumption at nodes in an S-MAC based wireless sensor network, and we develop an energy consumption analysis under different traffic conditions for distinct network topologies. The proposed model can guide designers to evaluate the energy consumption and determine the corresponding dominating factors. We validate the accuracy of the analytic model by comparing the analytic results with ns-2 simulation results.