A cross-layer MAC and routing protocol based on slotted aloha for wireless sensor networks

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) consist of a large number of sensors which have limited battery power. One of the major issues in WSN is the need to improve the overall network lifetime. Hence, WSN necessitate energy-efficient routing protocols. In this paper, a cross-layer routing protocol (PLOSA) is designed to offer a high delivery rate, a low end-to-end delay, and a low energy consumption. To achieve these goals, the transmission channel is divided into different slots, and a sensor has access to a slot related to its distance from the collector. The transmissions are then ordered within the frame from the farthest nodes to the closest ones which is a key point in order to ease forwarding and to conserve energy. We have conducted simulation-based evaluations to compare the performance of the proposed protocol against the framed aloha protocol. The performance results show that our protocol is a good candidate for WSN.