Implementation and performance evaluation of nanoMAC: a low-power MAC solution for high density wireless sensor networks

This paper describes the implementation architecture and performance analysis of nanoMAC, a CSMA/CA based Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol, which is specifically designed for high density Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). We empirically show that nanoMAC performs with high reliability in a variety of network traffic conditions in single and multihop scenarios. For energy efficient operation and minimising idle-overhearing, nanoMAC uses a specialised sleep algorithm. We also show results from a comparative study of nanoMAC with Berkeley's MAC (B-MAC) in terms of performance measures, as well as their coexistence in networks deployed in overlapping or nearby areas.