A Localized Multi-Hop Desynchronization Algorithm for Wireless Sensor Networks

This paper presents a new desynchronization algorithm aimed at providing collision-free transmission scheduling for single-hop and acyclic multi-hop wireless sensor networks. The desynchronization approach is resilient to the hidden terminal problem and topology changes. Each node distributively converges upon a single collision-free transmission slot, utilizing only minimal neighbor information. In addition, we propose two strategies which facilitate increased convergence time. We evaluate the proposed algorithm via simulations over a range of network densities on both single-hop and acyclic multi-hop networks. Convergence and throughput comparison are performed against two previously proposed desynchronization algorithms. Finally, using an experimental tested of TelosB motes we verify the performance, practicality, and correctness of the desynchronization algorithm on varying network topologies.