An energy-efficient asynchronous neighbor discovery algorithm based on cyclic difference set in duty-cycle wireless sensor networks

In duty-cycle wireless sensor networks(WSNs), as nodes are not necessarily synchronized, many asynchronous neighbor discovery algorithms have been proposed over the past several years. However, existing algorithms are not strong enough to support all heterogeneous duty-cycle networks in terms of energy cost and discovery latency. In this article, the authors develop a novel neighbor discovery algorithm based on the mathematical theory of relaxed cyclic difference set(RCDS), which can achieve the asynchronous neighbor discovery at predictable and minimal energy consumption while allowing sensory nodes to select dissimilar duty cycles. Moreover, the authors also offer a theoretical analysis of RCDS in order to obtain the duty-cycle scheduling sequence of sensory nodes. According to the characteristics of RCDS, the method presented by the authors can minimize energy consumption without increasing discovery delay. Finally, extensive experiments indicate that the algorithm in this paper can achieve the better performance advantages in terms of discovery latency, discovery rate, and scalability.