An efficient MAC scheme in wireless sensor network with energy harvesting (EHWSN) for cloud based applications

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are utilized in various applications and are providing the backbone for the new pervasive Internet, or Internet of Things (IoT). Researchers are working on merging other emerging technologies and services such as cloud computing and Big data with IoT to design and build smart cities. Energy consumption is one the important constraint in the design of WSN based system. The sensor nodes typically rely on power sources like batteries which also makes it bulky. Recent advances in ambient energy harvesting technology have made it a potential alternative energy source for WSNs. However, this energy is not available continuously at the desired level and therefore the node need to utilize the sporadic availability of energy to sense and transmit the data efficiently and as quickly as possible. Energy Harvesting-based WSNs (EHWSNs) are the result of granting nodes the capability to extract energy from ambient sources. Due to limited power, it is imperative to optimize every aspect of the WSN including communication protocols. The heart of all this optimization is the medium access control (MAC) layer. In this paper, we study the performance of different MAC schemes for WSNs. Later we proposed a new scheme for better utilization of EHWSN in certain application and provide simulation and experimental results. The cloud services provide the resources to process the information from hundreds of regional IoT systems at a higher level.