A Cross-Layer Approach for Congestion Control in Real-Time Transmission in Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

Congestion detection and control is considered as major challenge to implementation of real-time transmission in wireless sensor network, particularly under the situations where both the total packet loss and the real-time packet deadline are required to take care of. The demand of congestion detection and control is hard, if not impossible at all, to meet in a single transmission protocol layer in wireless sensor network due to its hop-by-hop transmission pattern. The work presented in this paper shows that the cross-layer approach combining a performance-differentiated scheduling in routing layer and a priority-based packet dropping policy at control layer can provide a key support to congestion control in implementation of real-time transmission in wireless sensor networks. Simulation experiments on TinyOS/TOSSIM platform shows an encouraging result from the proposed approach in providing congestion detection and control in a wireless sensor network with real-time support.KeywordsWireless sensor networkreal-time transmissioncross-layercongestion control