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Layered-MAC: An Energy-Protected and Efficient Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

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Mobile Wireless Middleware, Operating Systems and Applications

Part of the book series: EAI/Springer Innovations in Communication and Computing ((EAISICC))

Abstract

In wireless sensor networks, the radio of the wireless sensor node happens to be the highest source of energy consumption. Hence, there is a need to focus on the MAC layer, as it controls access to the radio. While there are several existing techniques to make sensors more energy-efficient, not many of them consider the security aspects of energy efficiency. By this we mean protecting energy from external attacks. The existing protocols focus mainly on either duty cycling (Sensor-MAC, Time-out MAC) or clustering (Gateway MAC), as a way of conserving energy. One of such attacks to energy is the denial-of-sleep (DoSL) attack which is a specific kind of denial-of-service attacks designed to drain the energy of battery-powered sensors in a wireless sensor network. This paper explains the development of a new MAC layer protocol called Layered-MAC aimed at not just energy efficiency but energy protection against DoSL attacks. The protocol is implemented on the OMNET++ and Castalia simulator. The results from the simulation are then compared with two representative existing duty-cycled protocols (Time-out MAC and Sensor-MAC), and significant improvements are present. One of the benefits of the developed protocol is that not only does it attempt to save energy, but it protects energy from DoSL attacks. There are two main contributions from this research – the first is the additional layer of network metrics (RSSI and LQI) consideration, based on the premise that protection/security is not possible without some form of measurement of assets, and the cluster head rotation which adds an extra layer of energy protection while considering energy efficiency.

This is a modified and extended version of previously published work [1].

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported via a doctoral research scholarship grant by the University of Westminster.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Distributed and Intelligent Systems Research Group, University of Westminster, London, UK

    Ekereuke Udoh & Vladimir Getov

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  1. Ekereuke Udoh
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  2. Vladimir Getov
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Correspondence to Ekereuke Udoh .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Inner Mongolia University of Finance and Economics, Hohhot, China

    Dalai Tang

  2. Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong

    Joni Zhong

  3. University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK

    Dalin Zhou

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Udoh, E., Getov, V. (2022). Layered-MAC: An Energy-Protected and Efficient Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks. In: Tang, D., Zhong, J., Zhou, D. (eds) Mobile Wireless Middleware, Operating Systems and Applications. EAI/Springer Innovations in Communication and Computing. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98671-1_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98671-1_4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-98670-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-98671-1

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