Title: Enhanced MAC protocol for designing a wireless sensor network based on a single LEO Picosatellite

Authors: Adnane Addaim; Abdelhaq Kherras; Zouhair Guennoun

Addresses: ENSA (National School of Applied Sciences), Ibn Tofail University, B.P 241, Compus universitaire, Kenitra, 14000, Morocco ' Mohammadia Engineering School, B.P 765, Avenue Ibn Sina Agdal, Rabat, 10000, Morocco ' Mohammadia Engineering School, B.P 765, Avenue Ibn Sina Agdal, Rabat, 10000, Morocco

Abstract: In this paper, we address the design of a wireless sensor network (WSN) using a single low earth orbit (LEO) satellite. The satellite, as small as a Picosatellite, requires employment of a very simple payload whereas all the complexity is brought back to the relay nodes (RNs), which are connected directly to the Picosatellite using a multiple access protocol. An improvement protocol to enhance the performance of Slotted Aloha, based on collision avoidance after first successful transmission, is proposed. We establish a mathematical model for evaluating the performance of the proposed protocol with collision avoidance termed as Slotted AlohaCA. Two appropriate performance measures are evaluated: Throughput and Energy efficiency. In the model, each RN has M packets to send during the visibility period of the Picosatellite. The proposed scheme approaches the maximum throughput of 100% for high value of M and hence improves significantly the energy efficiency compared with the traditional Slotted Aloha protocol owing to collision avoidance.

Keywords: LEO satellites; low earth orbit satellites; data aggregation; slotted ALOHA protocol; WSN; wireless sensor networks; WSNs; network design; satellite communications; MAC protocol; medium access control; picosatellites; mathematical modelling; collision avoidance; throughput; energy efficiency.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSNET.2017.083399

International Journal of Sensor Networks, 2017 Vol.23 No.3, pp.143 - 154

Received: 28 Dec 2014
Accepted: 04 Sep 2015
Published online: 27 Mar 2017 *

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