Traffic class prioritization-based slotted-CSMA/CA for IEEE 802.15.4 MAC in intra-WBANs

Abstract

This paper proposes an improved Traffic Class Prioritization based Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance (TCP-CSMA/CA) scheme for prioritized channel access to heterogenous-natured Bio-Medical Sensor Nodes (BMSNs) for IEEE 802.15.4 Medium Access Control (MAC) in intra-Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs). The main advantage of the scheme is to provide prioritized channel access to heterogeneous-natured BMSNs of different traffic classes with reduced packet delivery delay, packet loss, and energy consumption, and improved throughput and packet delivery ratio (PDR). The prioritized channel access is achieved by assigning a distinct, minimized and prioritized backoff period range to each traffic class in every backoff during contention. In TCP-CSMA/CA, the BMSNs are distributed among four traffic classes based on the existing patient’s data classification. The Backoff Exponent (BE) starts from 1 to remove the repetition of the backoff period range in the third, fourth, and fifth backoffs. Five moderately designed backoff period ranges are proposed to assign a distinct, minimized, and prioritized backoff period range to each traffic class in every backoff during contention. A comprehensive verification using NS-2 was carried out to determine the performance of the TCP-CSMA/CA in terms of packet delivery delay, throughput, PDR, packet loss ratio (PLR) and energy consumption. The results prove that the proposed TCP-CSMA/CA scheme performs better than the IEEE 802.15.4 based PLA-MAC, eMC-MAC, and PG-MAC as it achieves a 47% decrease in the packet delivery delay and a 63% increase in the PDR.