A Distributed Transmission Rate Adjustment Algorithm in Heterogeneous CSMA/CA Networks

Distributed transmission rate tuning is important for a wide variety of IEEE 802.15.4 network applications such as industrial network control systems. Such systems often require each node to sustain certain throughput demand in order to guarantee the system performance. It is thus essential to determine a proper transmission rate that can meet the application requirement and compensate for network imperfections (e.g., packet loss). Such a tuning in a heterogeneous network is difficult due to the lack of modeling techniques that can deal with the heterogeneity of the network as well as the network traffic changes. In this paper, a distributed transmission rate tuning algorithm in a heterogeneous IEEE 802.15.4 CSMA/CA network is proposed. Each node uses the results of clear channel assessment (CCA) to estimate the busy channel probability. Then a mathematical framework is developed to estimate the on-going heterogeneous traffics using the busy channel probability at runtime. Finally a distributed algorithm is derived to tune the transmission rate of each node to accurately meet the throughput requirement. The algorithm does not require modifications on IEEE 802.15.4 MAC layer and it has been experimentally implemented and extensively tested using TelosB nodes with the TinyOS protocol stack. The results reveal that the algorithm is accurate and can satisfy the throughput demand. Compared with existing techniques, the algorithm is fully distributed and thus does not require any central coordination. With this property, it is able to adapt to traffic changes and re-adjust the transmission rate to the desired level, which cannot be achieved using the traditional modeling techniques.