Machine-to-Machine (M2M) area networks connect a gateway with a huge number of energy-constrained end-devices. Therefore, energy efficiency is essential to prolong the lifetime of M2M networks. In this paper, we consider an M2M area network composed of hundreds or thousands of end-devices that periodically transmit data upon request from a gateway. We propose a Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol based on Frame Slotted-ALOHA (FSA) with Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC), also referred to as SIC-FSA, for data collection applications. By means of comprehensive computer-based simulations, we evaluate the delay and the energy consumed by the gateway and the enddevices using SIC-FSA. We have compared the delay and energy performance provided by SIC-FSA with that of conventional FSA and diversity-FSA (D-FSA). Results show that SIC-FSA can reduce the delay and energy consumption of the gateway in more than 50%, and the energy consumed by an end-device in more than 10%, with respect to FSA in dense M2M networks equipped with radio-transceivers in compliance with the IEEE 802.11 physical layer.

Peer Reviewed