An energy-efficient MAC protocol for virtual MIMO communications in WSNs

Abstract

Last few years have witnessed a marked increase in probable use of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) in various applications such as target tracking, disaster management etc. and hence, senor networks are demanded to be energy efficient as well as robust. An energy efficient communication protocol also helps in minimizing the network lifetime in WSN. Quality of Service (QoS) is also one of the chief concerns in communication. To achieve these necessary conditions, Virtual Multiple Input Multiple Output (VMIMO) is taken into account, the reason being as compared to true MIMO system, VMIMO system is examined as more reasonable for WSN applications. Furthermore, in VMIMO, sensor nodes combine together to form an antenna array which boost the performance of the system when configured properly. Enhancing the performance of the system in terms of bit rate, data rate, latency, throughput, network lifetime and other parameters through Spatial Multiplexing (SM) and Spatial Diversity (SD). Since, many aspects of an energy efficient MAC protocols has been suggested by different researcher. This paper presents a literature review on Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol, which is energy efficient for supporting Virtual MIMO communications in Wireless Sensor Networks. A significant improvement can be made in future designs in order to enhance the performance of dissimilar group of protocols by considering recent improvements in requirements and technologies.