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Collision-Free Beacon Scheduling Mechanisms for IEEE 802.15.4/Zigbee Cluster-Tree Wireless Sensor Networks
Ref: HURRAY-TR-070511       Publication Date: 24 to 25, May, 2007

Collision-Free Beacon Scheduling Mechanisms for IEEE 802.15.4/Zigbee Cluster-Tree Wireless Sensor Networks

Ref: HURRAY-TR-070511       Publication Date: 24 to 25, May, 2007

Abstract:
The recently standardized IEEE 802.15.4/Zigbee protocol stack offers great potentials for ubiquitous and pervasive computing, namely for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). However, there are still some open and ambiguous issues that turn its practical use a challenging task. One of those issues is how to build a synchronized multi-hop cluster-tree network, which is quite suitable for QoS support in WSNs. In fact, the current IEEE 802.15.4/Zigbee specifications restrict the synchronization in the beacon-enabled mode (by the generation of periodic beacon frames) to star-based networks, while it supports multi-hop networking using the peer-to-peer mesh topology, but with no synchronization. Even though both specifications mention the possible use of cluster-tree topologies, which combine multi-hop and synchronization features, the description on how to effectively construct such a network topology is missing. This paper tackles this problem, unveils the ambiguities regarding the use of the cluster-tree topology and proposes two collision-free beacon frame scheduling schemes. We strongly believe that the results provided in this paper trigger a significant step towards the practical and efficient use of IEEE 802.15.4/Zigbee cluster-tree networks.

Authors:
Anis Koubâa
,
Anneleen Van Nieuwenhuyse
,
Melek Attia
,
Mário Alves


7th International Workshop on Applications and Services in Wireless Networks (ASWN2007).
Santander, Spain.

Notes:



Record Date: 1, Jul, 2007