A shared channel access protocol with energy saving in hybrid Radio‐Frequency Identification networks and wireless sensor networks for use in the internet of things platform

Abstract

AbstractRadio‐Frequency Identification and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are two basic pillars in the Internet of Things (IOT); they are used to identify and track objects, and collect information from the environment in various applications of the IOT. One of the architectures used for combining these two technologies is the combination of readers with wireless sensor nodes. In the combination of Radio‐Frequency Identification and WSN, we face issues concerning reader collision, tag rereading and load imbalance. In the dense environments of this hybrid network, due to congestion and the possible mobility of nodes, controlling access to the shared channel is one of the basic challenges. In addition, owing to the energy limitations of these networks, data redundancy and tag re‐reading are critical issues. An effective anti‐collision protocol suitable for RFID‐WSN networks is proposed to avoid the above‐mentioned issues. The Energy‐saving and Anti‐collision Protocol (EAP) method is a CSMA‐based multi‐channel protocol that not only solves the issue of readback collisions, but also, through tagging, it prevents the rereading of the tags. To evaluate the performance of the EAP method, this protocol is compared with the most prominent reader anti‐collision protocols ever presented. The results indicate that due to the better throughput and higher energy efficiency that the proposed protocol has, when compared to other multi‐channel protocols, it will be a better option for use in the IOT platform with dense conditions.