Applying swarm intelligence to a novel congestion control approach for wireless sensor networks

Recently, sensor networks have attracted significant research interest. However, most studies have mainly focused on protocols for applications in which network performance assurances are not considered essential. With the emergence of mission-critical applications, performance control mechanisms are considered of prime importance. Performance control can be carried out by robust congestion control approaches that aim to keep the network operational under varying network conditions. Swarm intelligence is successfully employed to combat congestion by mimicking the collective behavior of bird flocks. In this way, the emerging global behavior of minimum congestion is achieved collectively. A flock-based congestion control (Flock-CC) approach was proposed in the past. This paper presents a new, simpler Flock-CC approach. Performance evaluations focus on parameter setting and on comparative studies between the new and the earlier version of Flock-CC.