LiReTa: A Lightweight Reliable Transmission Scheme for Wireless Sensor Networks Using Cross-Layer Information

Abstract

Information delivered through sensor networks is used in industries to increase quality of life (QoL). Lossless data in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is a communications challenge that stands in the way of accurate data delivery. Although end-to-end data retransmission has evolved as a reliable mode of data transportation for the Internet, it is not applicable to WSNs due to the lack of reliable wireless links and resource constraints in sensor nodes. In this paper, we propose an efficient and reliable overhearing-based data transfer protocol for WSNs by introducing selective “direct acknowledgement (ACKdir)” or “implicit acknowledgement (ACKimp)” in cross-layer design. This protocol assesses the path (or link) quality and delegates the ACK message if it has good communication on paths. In addition, the protocol uses implicit ACK in order to be energy efficient, reducing traffic. Simulation results show that energy efficiency is improved by 30% compared with other approaches.