Traffic Aware Scheduler for Time-Slotted Channel-Hopping-Based IPv6 Wireless Sensor Networks

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Network Engineering
• Wireless Communication

Background:

• Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are crucial for industrial and disaster-detection systems requiring reliable data transmission.
• Time-Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH) provides reliability and power efficiency in WSNs by managing time and frequency resources.
• Existing schedulers like Orchestra are effective but struggle with unpredictable high-traffic conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an adaptive Orchestra-based scheduler for WSNs capable of handling unpredictable traffic bursts.
• To improve the performance of WSNs during periods of high network load.

Main Methods:

• Implemented a novel scheduler that utilizes traffic congestion data from root children and RPL subtree size.
• Evaluated the scheduler's performance against the standard Orchestra scheduler under varying traffic conditions.

Main Results:

• The proposed scheduler demonstrated lower latency during traffic bursts compared to Orchestra.
• A higher Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR) was observed with the new scheduler during bursts.
• Performance outside of burst periods remained largely unaffected.

Conclusions:

• The developed adaptive scheduler effectively manages unpredictable traffic bursts in WSNs.
• This solution enhances WSN reliability and efficiency for critical applications.
• The scheduler offers a significant improvement over existing methods for dynamic network environments.