ODM: A Neighbor Discovery Protocol Based on Optimal Discovery Model in WSNs

It is a challenging issue to improve the energy efficiency of neighbor discovery in WSNs. This paper proposes an optimal discovery model (ODM) for the first time. Based on the model, we investigate the influence of the relative size of two unequal active slots on the energy efficiency. ODM provides the energy optimal value of the length of the larger active slot at a given duty cycle. Other than existing methods, the worst-case latency bound of ODM is only one period. This is a subversive conclusion, because almost all other related methods are based on a wake-up schedule that contains several periods. We theoretically deduce that ODM can reduce worst-case discovery latency by 43.89% compared to Searchlight-Trim when their duty cycles are the same. The simulations verify the advantage of ODM.