2009 Research Summary

Evaluating the Cost of Frequency Diversity in Communication and Routing

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Jorge Ortiz and David E. Culler

National Science Foundation

As the number and density of wireless devices grows, the limited frequency spectrum becomes further congested. Furthermore, deployments of wireless sensor networks (WSN) in harsh radio environments, such as an industrial plant, further motivates the exploration of alternative techniques for more effective and efficient communication. Routing and frequency diversity help to increase routing robustness and reduce the cost of communication. This work explores the use of frequency diversity at the MAC layer and how the various components of a multichannel MAC affect the cost of communication and routing in a network of wireless devices. Furthermore, we introduce a multichannel MAC protocol that makes use of our findings to improve the cost and robustness of real WSN deployments.