Energy Efficient Determinism in WSN through Reverse Packet Elimination

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Network Engineering

Background:

• Industrial wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are increasingly adopted as a flexible and cost-effective alternative to wired networks.
• The 6TiSCH (IPv6 over the TSCH mode of IEEE 802.15.4e) stack is a key technology for reliable WSN communication.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and evaluate a novel Reverse Packet Elimination (RPE) algorithm for the 6TiSCH stack.
• To assess the impact of RPE on WSN reliability, energy consumption, and latency.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of the RPE algorithm within the 6TiSCH stack.
• Extensive evaluation using the 6TiSCH Simulator and analytical assessments.
• Comparison of network performance with and without the RPE algorithm under various scenarios.

Main Results:

• RPE increased network reliability by 11.8% in a WSN with 70% link reception rate.
• Average latency decreased by 39.1% with the implementation of RPE.
• Average energy consumption increased by 19.8%, but network lifetime saw a slight increase.

Conclusions:

• The RPE algorithm effectively enhances reliability and reduces latency in 6TiSCH-based WSNs.
• RPE offers a significant improvement in network lifetime compared to alternative mechanisms, despite a moderate increase in energy consumption.