Strategies for Optimal MAC Parameter Setting in IEEE 802.15.4 Wireless Sensor Networks: a Performance Comparison

Recent studies have shown that the IEEE 802.15.4 MAC protocol may suffer from severe limitations in terms of reliability and energy efficiency if a non appropriate parameter setting is used. Hence, a number of solutions have been proposed to select the optimal parameter setting to provide reliability with minimum energy consumption. In this paper we compare, by simulation, three different algorithms that take different approaches to the problem, namely offline computation, model-based adaptation, and measurement-based adaptation. We show that adaptive algorithms perform well, however the model-based adaptive approach has some limitations that make it unsuitable in practical scenarios, where operating conditions may vary over time and transmission errors cannot be neglected. Instead, the measurement-based adaptive approach is flexible and effective.