This paper evaluates FLIP, a flexible header protocol for power-constrained, heterogeneous networks. We show that FLIP can improve the energy efficiency of a system considerably, prolonging the system's lifetime. For example, when employing FLIP to implement an existing sensor network communication paradigm, we obtain 50% energy savings when compared to the paradigm's original implementation. Further, we use a sample data gathering application which calculates the average of a sensor network's attribute (e.g., average temperature) and show FLIP's energy efficiency when compared to static header approaches.
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