Congestion control for a fair packet delivery in WSN: from a complex system perspective

Area of Science:

• Complex systems
• Wireless sensor networks (WSNs)
• Distributed systems

Background:

• Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) face challenges with congestion and network collapse.
• Traditional congestion control methods may not be suitable for the dynamic nature of WSNs.
• Viewing network packets as agents in a complex system offers a novel perspective.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel distributed congestion control mechanism for WSNs.
• To adapt traffic flow to network capacity using simple, node-based rules.
• To enhance network performance and ensure fair packet delivery.

Main Methods:

• Applying complex systems models to WSNs.
• Developing a distributed congestion control algorithm based on simple rules at network nodes.
• Utilizing a packet satisfaction parameter for adaptive traffic management.

Main Results:

• The proposed self-organized control effectively adapts traffic to network capacity, even under stress.
• Network performance degrades smoothly beyond a defined traffic threshold, unlike uncontrolled networks which collapse.
• The system demonstrates fair packet delivery and mitigates network congestion.

Conclusions:

• A self-organized, distributed congestion control strategy based on complex systems principles is effective for WSNs.
• The proposed method enhances network stability and performance by preventing abrupt collapse.
• Adaptive traffic mechanisms driven by packet satisfaction improve overall network satisfaction and reliability.