IRIS: A Low Duty Cycle Cross-Layer Protocol for Long-Range Wireless Sensor Networks with Low Power Budget

TL;DR

IRIS is a cross-layer protocol enabling long-range wireless sensor networks to operate with less than 1% duty cycle, ensuring low power consumption, regulatory compliance, and reliable route formation in challenging conditions.

Contribution

The paper introduces IRIS, a novel low duty cycle cross-layer protocol specifically designed for long-range, low-power wireless sensor networks, with flexible configuration and proven robustness.

Findings

Guaranteed route formation across various topologies

Operation with less than 1% duty cycle

Robustness against unreliable connections and node failures

Abstract

This paper presents a cross-layer protocol (IRIS) designed for long-range pipeline Wireless Sensor Networks with extremely low power budget, typically seen in a range of monitoring applications. IRIS uses ping packets initiated by a base station to travel through the multi-hop network and carry monitoring information. The protocol is able to operate with less than 1% duty cycle, thereby conforming to ISM band spectrum regulations in the 868MHz band. The duty cycle can be flexibly configured to meet other regulations/power budgets as well as to improve the route forming performance. Simulation results show guaranteed route formation in different network topologies with various protocol configurations. System robustness against unreliable wireless connections and node failures are also demonstrated by simulations.