LaDiS: a low-latency distributed scheduler for time-slotted channel hopping networks

Time-Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH), as an operational mode of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, is a promising medium access mechanism for industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). However, efficient performance of such networks depends on the medium access scheduling scheme, which is not
specified by the standard. This paper proposes a low-latency distributed scheduler, called LaDiS, for multi-hop tree-based TSCH networks. The main objective is to provide low end-to-end data latency in convergecast WSNs with very low communication overhead. The schedule of each node is determined by its parent based on the available local information about the routing structure and traffic requirement of that node. At the same time, LaDiS provides proper opportunity for data aggregation.
by relaying nodes in a multi-hop network leading to reduced
traffic. The performance of the proposed scheduler as well as
the existing distributed TSCH schedulers is extensively evaluated
in various setups. The results show that LaDiS considerably
outperforms others in terms of data latency in the networks
under consideration in this work. LaDiS is implemented and
integrated in the Contiki operating system.