SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MULTIPLE ACCESS SENSOR NETWORKS

A method enables a radio receiver to distinguish sensor probes supplying data to the receiver over a long period of time. The method includes each probe generating a random number sent to the receiver to identify the probe. Each probe and the receiver also uses a pseudo-random process to identify a time of transmission for each probe. The pseudo-random process helps keep the transmission times for the probes separate in the presence of oscillator drift. If a transmission collision occurs, the receiver ignores all probes in the collision and waits until the pseudo-random process separates the probe transmissions.