Traffic-Aware Channel Allocation Scheme to Improve the Throughput of IEEE 802.15.4 based Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

Multi-channel MAC protocol is a vital solution to enhance the capacity of wireless sensor networks (WSNs).Most of the existing multi-channel MAC protocols allocate channels based on the neighboring nodes without considering the traffic density of each node.By considering different traffic weights of different nodes we can improve the channel capacity of wireless sensor networks.This paper presents traffic aware channel assignment method based on 3-hop neighborhood which enhances the throughput of 802.15.4 MAC by reducing the number of packets dropped.Simulation results using NS2 demonstrates improvement in throughput and reduction in average end to end delay.