Abstract

In this paper, we propose a time division method to solve the congestion control problem for an event-driven sensor network. In this method, a node adjusts time (therefore bandwidth) assigned to each upstream node by employing a dynamic Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) approach. The purpose is to efficiently use resources available to the system and avoid the situation in which a node cannot send event information to the Base Station (BS) on time through the insufficiently allocated bandwidth when it detects multiple events in a short time span. Experimental results show that this method can effectively improve the throughputs of a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), shorten its end-to-end delays and reduce its packet loss rates.