Energy-efficient medium access control in wireless sensor networks

Medium access control for wireless sensor networks has been an active
research area in the past decade. This chapter discusses a set of important medium access control (MAC) attributes and possible design trade-offs in protocol design, with an emphasis on energy efficiency. Then we categorize existing MAC protocols into five groups, outline the representative protocols, and compare their advantages and disadvantages in the context of wireless sensor network. Finally, thoughts for practitioners are presented and open research issues are also discussed.