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IEEE 802.15.4: a Federating Communication Protocol for Time-Sensitive Wireless Sensor Networks
Ref: HURRAY-TR-060202       Publication Date: Jan 2007

IEEE 802.15.4: a Federating Communication Protocol for Time-Sensitive Wireless Sensor Networks

Ref: HURRAY-TR-060202       Publication Date: Jan 2007

Abstract:
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have been attracting increasing interests for developing a new generation of embedded systems with great potential for many applications such as surveillance, environment monitoring, emergency medical response and home automation. However, the communication paradigms in WSNs differ from the ones attributed to traditional wireless networks, triggering the need for new communication protocols. In this context, the recently standardised IEEE 802.15.4 protocol presents some potentially interesting features for deployment in wireless sensor network applications, such as powerefficiency, timeliness guarantees and scalability. Nevertheless, when addressing WSN applications with (soft/hard) timing requirements some inherent paradoxes emerge, such as power-efficiency versus timeliness, triggering the need of engineering solutions for an efficient deployment of IEEE 802.15.4 in WSNs. In this chapter, we will explore the most relevant characteristics of the IEEE 802.15.4 protocol for wireless sensor networks and present the most important challenges regarding time-sensitive WSN applications. We also provide some timing performance and analysis of the IEEE 802.15.4 that unveil some directions for resolving the previously mentioned paradoxes.

Authors:
Anis Koubâa
,
Mário Alves
,
Eduardo Tovar


Chapter in book Sensor Networks and Configurations: Fundamentals, Techniques, Platforms, and Experiments, Springer-Verlag, pp 19-49.
Germany.



Record Date: 1, Feb, 2006