An Adaptive Competitive Resource Control Protocol for Alleviating Congestion in Wireless Sensor Networks: An Evolutionary Game Theory Approach

A wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is composed of small sensors with limited capabilities that are densely distributed in the area. WSNs are subject to more packet loss and congestion. To alleviate congestion, either the source transmission rate should be controlled or the available resources have to be increased. A precision resource control mechanism is necessary to possess an efficient and accurate congestion control. Evolutionary game theory is very useful on the design of large-scale wireless networks. Evolutionary games in large systems provide a simple framework for describing strategic interactions among large number of players. In this paper, we propose an evolutionary game theoretical resource control protocol (EGRC) for wireless sensor networks. EGRC applies evolutionary games to develop a non-cooperative game containing large number of sensors as players for alleviating and controlling congestion in wireless sensor network by utilizing the available resource and controlling radio transmission power. The proposed protocol adjusts the transmission power based on the available energy capacity and node congestion level. Simulation results show the performance of the proposed protocol that improves system throughput, and decreases packet dropping, while saving energy.