CoopStor: a cooperative reliable and efficient data collection protocol in fault and delay tolerant wireless networks

Internet of things consist in the deployment of constrained and battery-powered devices with a radio interface. Most industrial applications require to respect strict reliability and delay constraints. Lossy links imply mechanisms to retransmit the packets to improve the reliability. However, transient faults (e.g. obstacles, interference) may also impact the reliability, and require to change the routes. In this article, we present cooperative storing mode (CoopStor), that detects the faults and triggers action before a packet is dropped. In particular, the packets are cooperatively stored in the network, until the routing protocol re-converges. The congested zone gradually increases to serve as a local storage facility. CoopStor relies on a selection of relay and leaf nodes to reduce the energy consumption while providing a low end-to-end delay in steady state. Our performance evaluation campaign highlights a reduction of packet drops and an improved energy-efficient data collection procedure.