STUDY OF RETRANSMISSION SCHEMES IN WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are being actively implemented in various systems for remote
observation and monitoring of distributed objects. WSNs have a number of undoubted advantages:
flexibility, efficiency, relative cheapness, and the possibility of rapid deployment. However,
the exchange of information and data is carried out in the WSN using wireless communication
channels, which are subject to inevitable interference and noise, which leads to transmission errors and even to the loss of transmitted data packets. Another challenge, not fully resolved, is the
uneven distribution of consumed energy within the WSN in the face of stringent requirements for
energy sources. Currently, there are two most widely used retransmission schemes in the loss of
transmitted data, namely, hop-by-hop and end-to-end. Most of the well-known studies devoted to
the issues of reliable data transmission in WSN using these schemes have been carried out experimentally.
In addition, there are still no analytical methods for evaluating various reliable
transport solutions, which complicates the analysis of the proposed WSN. Therefore, the aim of the
proposed work is the development of analytical methods and algorithms for studying the operating
characteristics of the signal relaying circuits in the WSN. Analytical methods are proposed for
evaluating retransmission schemes in the WSN, based on a relatively new theoretical basis - the
network calculus for packet-switched networks, which is a tool for determining the size of the network.
First, traffic, service and energy cost models are introduced. Based on these models and
network calculations, the maximum packet transmission delay and energy efficiency of the two
main types of retransmission schemes: hop-by-hop and end-to-end retransmission, are analytically
estimated. According to the results of the experiment, the maximum latency and the maximum
power consumption of these two schemes are compared in several scenarios. In addition, the analytically
calculated maximum delay is compared with the simulation results. With the proposed
method, a suitable retransmission scheme can be selected based on the various requirements and
constraints to be set.