Dynamic cell-based MAC protocol for target detection applications in energy-constrained wireless networks

Today's advances in sensor technology make it feasible to embed sensing, communication and computation capabilities in small untethered nodes. However, node lifetime is still severely restricted by the limitations of power supply. By improving power consumption efficiency of sensor node operations, a sensor node's lifetime can be significantly extended. A well designed data gathering protocol can achieve this goal by minimizing the amount of data transmitted through the network. We believe that in scenarios where data retrieval operations are infrequent and localized, pre-configuring an entire sensor network is detrimental to power conservation. We propose and evaluate a new data gathering protocol, and demonstrate the advantages of a dynamically configured network for specific types of applications.