Application-Aware Scheduling for IEEE 802.15.4e Time-Slotted Channel Hopping Using Software-Defined Wireless Sensor...

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Networking
• Wireless Sensor Networks

Background:

• Software-defined wireless sensor networks (SDWSNs) offer enhanced flexibility and programmability.
• IEEE 802.15.4e time-slotted channel hopping (TSCH) is used with SDWSNs to improve network efficiency via slicing.
• Scalable quality of service (QoS) provisioning in SDWSNs remains a challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel application-aware (AA) scheduling approach for SDWSNs.
• To address the challenge of maintaining QoS in scalable SDWSNs.
• To enable network scalability using shared timeslots without additional hardware.

Main Methods:

• The proposed application-aware (AA) scheduling approach isolates different traffic types and dynamically adapts to QoS requirements.
• The AA approach was evaluated using the IT-SDN framework.
• Performance was assessed by varying the number of nodes up to 225 and considering up to four applications with diverse QoS needs (delivery rate and delay).

Main Results:

• The AA approach significantly improved delivery rate by up to 28% and reduced delay by up to 57% compared to the application traffic isolation (ATI) approach.
• The AA approach successfully met a 92% delivery rate requirement for up to 225 nodes.
• A 900 ms delay requirement was met for up to 144 nodes, even with four concurrent applications.

Conclusions:

• The application-aware (AA) scheduling approach is the first to support network scalability using shared timeslots while maintaining application QoS levels.
• AA scheduling effectively isolates traffic and adapts to dynamic QoS needs, outperforming existing methods.
• This approach offers a viable solution for scalable and efficient SDWSN management with guaranteed QoS.