MAC Layer Architecture

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The MAC Layer Architecture (MLA) provides a component-based architecture for MAC protocols in wireless sensor networks. MLA extends the Unified Power Management Architecture to provide the hardware-independent interfaces required by timing sensitive MAC protocols, and defining platform-independent reusable components that implement MAC layer logic on top of them. The MLA architecture can be used to develop a large number of platform-independent MAC implementations, with little or no further effort required to adapt these implementations to new hardware platforms.

Our current implementation of MLA is built on top of TinyOS 2.0.2. It currently supports platforms which use the CC2420 radio stack and has been tested on TelosB and MicaZ motes. In addition to providing interfaces and components for building new MAC layer implementations, MLA includes five representative MAC layers:

  • bmac: a port of the BMAC-like NOACK monolithic LPL layer to MLA
  • xmac: a port of the XMAC-like ACK monolithic LPL layer to MLA
  • scp-wustl: a reimplementation of the SCP-MAC protocol
  • pure-tdma: a single-hop TDMA protocol
  • ss-tdma: a TDMA/CSMA hybrid protocol which implements Z-MAC's "slot-stealing" optimization

Publications

Software

MLA is available from the wustl/upma directory in the tinyos-2.x-contrib CVS repository. Instructions for accessing the repository are available here. Please read the included README file for instructions on set up and use MLA.