Design and Evaluation of a Low-Power Communication Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks in Environmental Monitoring

Monitoring extensive natural areas is crucial for the sustainability of the agrifood value chain and demands the development of specialized technologies. This paper presents the design and evaluation of a low-energy consumption communication protocol for a wireless sensor network aimed at environmental monitoring in remote areas. The proposed multi-layered protocol integrates functionalities of the network, media access control, and data link layers to minimize energy consumption while maintaining acceptable latency. Key challenges addressed include reducing power consumption compared to the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, ensuring acceptable information latency, and enabling network self-configuration in response to node failures or expansion. The protocol employs data clustering and minimizes frame hops to reduce collisions and associated energy waste. It incorporates sleep cycles for the transceiver modules to significantly decrease power consumption. The protocol's performance was evaluated using the OMNeT++ simulator with the MiXiM framework, using a Texas Instruments CC2420 transceiver with the WiseRoute routing protocol as a reference. Simulations demonstrate that the proposed protocol achieves energy savings of approximately 90% compared to the reference nodes and maintains an average alarm latency of less than 20 minutes for nodes up to 50 hops away from the base station.