Decentralized multichannel medium access control: viewing desynchronization as a convex optimization method

Desynchronization algorithms are essential in the design of collision-free medium access control (MAC) mechanisms for wireless sensor networks. Desync is a well-known desynchronization algorithm that operates under limited listening. In this paper, we view Desync as a gradient descent method solving a convex optimization problem. This enables the design of a novel decentralized, collision-free, multichannel medium access control (MAC) algorithm. Moreover, by using Nesterov's fast gradient method, we obtain a new algorithm that converges to the steady network state much faster. Simulations and experimental results on an IEEE 802.15.4-based wireless sensor network deployment show that our algorithms achieve significantly faster convergence to steady network state and substantially higher throughput compared to the recently standardized IEEE 802.15.4e-2012 time synchronized channel hopping (TSCH) scheme. In addition, our mechanism has a comparable power dissipation with respect to TSCH and does not need a coordinator node or coordination channel.