Priority-oriented multicast transmission schemes for heterogeneous traffic in WSNs

Abstract

To ensure quality of service (QoS) for heterogeneous traffic in IEEE 802.15.4 based wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is a challenging task since no traffic prioritization mechanism is defined in such WSNs. In this paper, we propose two priority-oriented multicast transmission schemes to provide QoS for heterogeneous traffic in WSNs. Contrary to the legacy CSMA/CA and FIFO principles, these schemes differentiate self-generated or received traffic and give priority to delay-sensitive traffic with respect to channel access and packet scheduling. Simulations are performed in order to assess the performance of these schemes in terms of end-to-end delay, energy consumption, packet delivery ratio, and collision probability.