A Cross-Layer Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

Abstract-Severe energy constraints of battery-powered sensor nodes necessitate energy-efficient communication protocols in order to fulfill application objectives of wireless sensor networks (WSN). However, the vast majority of the existing solutions are based on classical layered protocols approach. It is much more resource-efficient to have a unified scheme which melts common protocol layer functionalities into a cross-layer module for resource-constrained sensor nodes. To the best of our knowledge, to date, there is no unified cross-layer communication protocol for efficient and reliable event communication which considers transport, routing, medium access functionalities with physical layer (wireless channel) effects for WSNs.In this paper, a unified cross-layer protocol is developed, which replaces the entire traditional layered protocol architecture that has been used so far in WSNs. Our design principle is complete unified cross-layering such that both the information and the functionalities of traditional communication layers are melted in a single protocol. The objective of the proposed crosslayer protocol is highly reliable communication with minimal energy consumption, adaptive communication decisions and local congestion avoidance. To this end, the protocol operation is governed by the new concept of initiative determination. Based on this concept, the cross-layer protocol performs received based contention, local congestion control, and distributed duty cycle operation in order to realize efficient and reliable communication in WSN. Performance evaluation results show that the proposed cross-layer protocol significantly improves the communication efficiency and outperforms the traditional layered protocol architectures.

Adaptive Communication Techniques for the Internet of Things

“…The inefficiency of traditional protocol architectures also gives rise to the second type of optimization, which takes more radical approaches [128]. Both cross-layer module (XLM) [133] and content-centric networking (CCN) propose novel architectures. XLM incorporates all network layers into one singular entity, and conventional cross-layer communication is made intrinsic.…”

“…Unlike the previously described "moderate" way of optimization, the layered architecture is made implicit or even redesigned in these works [132]. One of the examples is the single unified cross-layer module (XLM) proposed in [133], which aims to replace the entire conventional protocol hierarchy for wireless sensor networks. The novel concept of "initiative" is the cornerstone of the module.…”

The State of the Art in Cross-Layer Design for Wireless Sensor Networks

“…The nodes that decide to participate in the communication contend for routing of the packet by transmitting CTS packets. The waiting times for the CTS packet transmission is determined based on the advancement of a node for routing [3]. Moreover, the local congestion control component of XLM ensures energy efficient as well as reliable communication by a two-step congestion control.…”

“…Here, we overview a new communication paradigm, i.e., cross-layer module (XLM) for WSNs [3]. XLM replaces the entire traditional layered protocol architecture that has been used so far in WSNs.…”

RSSI-Based Forwarding for Multihop Wireless Sensor Networks

“…RBF protocol uses the four-way Request To Send (RTS)-Clear To Send (CTS)-DATA-Acknowledgment (ACK) handshake as proposed in some schemes like XLM [4], IGF [2] and SIF [8]. Figure 1 shows the packet exchange sequence.…”