Adaptive Hybrid MAC Protocols for UAV-Assisted Mobile Sensor Networks

Abstract

This paper proposes novel MAC protocols for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) aided mobile wireless sensor network. UAV and sensors are mobile, and UAV collect data from sensors. In such dynamic aerial network, both the physical contact duration time (CDT) and the data-rate (DR) between mobile nodes and the UAV impact the data collection deeply. We propose hybrid beacon based MAC schemes combing CSMA/CA with physical parameters based scheduling. The UAV broadcasts `Beacon' evenly to its coverage, and the mobile nodes that receive the `Beacon' will randomly access to the channel through CSMA/CA. We compare fixed inter-beacon duration combined with a proactive scheduling MAC to an beacon-based IEEE 802.15.4. Through extensive simulations, the proposed MAC protocols have high performance in average delivery ratio and fairness compared to beacon beacon-based IEEE 802.15.4.