Optimal time and channel assignment for data collection in wireless sensor networks

This paper studies the joint assignment of time slots and frequency channels in tree-based wireless sensor networks (WSNs) for data collection applications. In order to approximate the optimal solution, we propose a series of algorithms that exploit the network topology and maximise concurrent communications within each time slot through dynamic programming Unlike peer approaches established upon idealised link-layer models, our algorithms are designed to be resilient to link errors and they are evaluated with the presence of unreliable links and in various deployment scenarios. Evaluation results show that our new algorithms outperform the state of the art in terms of data collection delay performance under unreliable conditions with moderate node deployment. Finally, the impacts of assorted implementation-oriented network parameters are investigated and summarised as design guidelines.