2008 International Conference on Computer Science and Software Engineering

Congestion Avoidance and Control Mechanism for

Multi-paths Routing in WSN
Jizan Zhang
School of Mathematics and Message
Ludong University
Yantai, China
zhangjizan@163.com
lifetime of the network by saving scarce energy in sensor
nodes. In this section we briefly describe four methods of
controlling congestion in the sensor network.

AbstractFor solving the issue of congestion in WSN(wireless

sensor network), proposed a congestion avoidance control
mechanism for multiple paths routing protocol (MR-CACM),
which integrates fairness, status of congestion and level of
energy. Consequently the network can avoid congestion by
assigning traffic to different paths. When congestion is occurred,
it can help to detect congestion by using the values of
transmitting capacity and alleviate congestion by reassigning
traffic. The results of simulations validate MR-CACM can avoid
and alleviate congestion, and has reasonable effects of reliability,
low energy consumption and high throughout.

In [1], the authors proposed Congestion Detection and

Avoidance (CODA) where several mechanisms were proposed
to alleviate congestion:

Receiver-based congestion detection;

Open-loop hop-by-hop backpressure has the node

experiencing congestion broadcast backpressure
messages upstream toward the source nodes,
informing them of the need to reduce the sending
rates.

Closed-loop multi-source regulation, regulation, the

sink, or controller, asserts congestion control over
multiple sources. Acknowledgements(ACKs) are used
by the sources to determine their sending rates once
the event rate exceeds the channel capacity.

Keywords-WSN; MR-CACM; congestion control; multiple

paths

I.

INTRODUCTION

The nodes, in WSN, could cooperate in forwarding data for

special tasks. During finding and forwarding the special
information, some nodes may find the same information and
forward to sink node by different areas and paths. This can
lead to the traffic of WSN become more and more due to the
competitions among nodes and disturbance of traffic. Data
can pile up in the buffer of nodes and bring to congestion
when the bandwidth cant satisfy the requirement of traffic.
Thus, it is a key problem in WSN to control forward, avoid
and control congestion.

In [2], the authors proposed the event-to-sink reliable

transport protocol (ESRT). The sink uses congestion feedback
from sensor nodes to broadcast a notification to reduce
reporting frequency. The effectiveness of this method is
dependent on the persistence of congestion and the feedback
latency. If congestion is transient, and feedback latency is
significantly large, the notification arrival may arrive when
congestion is no longer present. Feedback latency is in turn
dependent on the diameter of the network, and thus the
solution may not scale to huge sensor networks experiencing
transient congestion.

Traditional end to end design adaptable in Internet cant

fit the demand of WSN. The design of the control mechanism
of congestion in WSN must involve the factors as fairness,
throughput and energy consumption.

For resolving the congestion in WSN, this paper

proposed a mechanism MR-CACM, which can avoid,
detect and relieve congestion. It, based on multi-path,
integrates the fairness of assigned traffic, the rationality of
load and the level of energy to assign globally the traffic of
paths and to avoid traffic to the area occurring congestion.
When the congestion is inevitable, it can detect congestion
in time and adjust the traffic to alleviating the pressure on
the nodes in congested areas.
II.

In [3], the authors proposed an adaptive resource control

scheme to alleviate congestion that has two phases as
increasing resource provisioning as soon as congestion occurs
and reducing the resource budget as soon as congestion
subsides.
The scheme has managed to balance the need of reliably
shipping data packets to the sink during a crisis state and the
need of conserving energy consumption.
In [4], the authors proposed a fair hop-by-hop congestion
control algorithm with the MAC constraint being imposed in
the form of a channel access time constraint. Regarding local
nodes as the center of congestion control, it forwards
information of congestion to upstream via hop-by-hop, and the
upstream nodes adopt definite methods to control congestion

RELATED WORKS

Even though congestion control in sensor networks is

important not only to make sure that the reported samples
dont exceed the network capacity but also to optimize the

978-0-7695-3336-0/08 $25.00 2008 IEEE

DOI 10.1109/CSSE.2008.201

1318

after receiving congestion information. It comprises three

phases: computing congestion degree, producing feedback
information and dealing with feedback information. But, in the
congestion area, the network is in slack. Feedback information
cant forward upstream in time, moreover, the feedback
information aggravates the congestion.

So if improper assignment takes place, it may cause choke

point, and congestion.
B. Traffic Assignment

Different with those mechanisms, the MR-CACM

reasonably assigns traffic to all paths regarding to the fairness
of traffic, the state of congestion and the state of energy, and
when the congestion is inevitable, it reallocates traffic and
alleviate congestion.
III.

1) Definitions
In this part, the parameters are defined as follows.
The parameters related to nodes comprise the utilized ratio
of buffers, load factor and utilized frequency of node.
Define 1.The buffer utilized ratio in node i is denoted as
BOi, which means the ratio of the data buffered to buffer size.
The parameter directly implies the busy degree of node i. The
value is greater, the congestion more easily happen in the paths
which node i participates in.

TRAFFIC ALLOCATING MECHANISM FOR MULTI-PATH

A. Multi-path Routing
The focal point of this paper is congestion avoidance,
detection and alleviation mechanisms. The mechanisms dont
depend on any particular multi-path routing algorithm. So the
related work of multi-path routing is described as follow:

Define 2.The load factor of node i is denoted as LFi ,

namely LFi =

For improving the reliability of forwarding and reducing

the cost of route maintenance, investigators have proposed
many multi-path forward schemes. In HREEMR[5], based on
directed diffusion[6], proposed two mechanisms of no
intersection paths and twist paths, which aim is to recover from
fault via maintaining more paths and to improve the reliability
of routing. MDR[7] is a routing protocol on demand, which
performs router finding algorithm only in the case of source
nodes sending packets to sink nodes and construct new paths,
thereby it may reduce traffic and energy consumption, improve
the reliability of forwarding via permitting source to send data
down more one paths. H-SPREAD[8] is a distributed N-to-1
multi-path finding protocol, which comprises two process as
offset apperceive flooding and flooding multi-path extends. It
can find no intersection multi-path from sensor nodes to sink
nodes and adopt mechanism of data collection through mixed
multi-paths.

When BOi < 1 , if LFi 1 , the value of BOi may become

more and more large, implies the inflow velocity more than the
outflow velocity, and data are piling up in buffer, so
congestion is emerging or aggravated. If LFi < 1 , the value of
BOi may become more and more small, implying the inflow is
less than the outflow, and the network is in proper state.
When BOi = 1 , it implies buffer is used up, and node i
cant receive data any more. And LFi = 0 , congestion is
emergence. But when node i is leisure, BOi = 0 , the sum of all
inflow is zero, and LFi = 0 too. In order to distinguish these
conditions, it is defined as:
Define 3. Forwarding capability function of node i,
denoted as F ( LFi )

(1 LFi ) 0
0,
,
F ( LFi ) =
1
,

LF
others
i

(1)

The nodes in the paths can be used by other sources;

The energy remain of nodes in the selected paths is

different; and

(2)

In (2), F ( LFi ) [0,1] . It implies the capability of nodes to

forwarding data.

In (1), if the number of the available paths is less than N,

some paths must forward more data. On the other hand, if the
number of the available paths is more than N, Multi-path
routing will select N paths to forward data. It is important how
to assign the traffic on the selected paths. There have three
reasons:

ri
.
Ci

ri is the sum of all the inflow velocity. Ci is the sum of all

the outflow velocity, which means the velocity of service(link
load bandwidth). LFi implies the change trend and the change
velocity of BOi.

Multi-path routing improves reliability by forwarding same

data down more one paths at the same time. Premising the lost
ratio of channel is e, the average hops from source to
destination are h. For getting the expectant reliability r, the
num of paths at least is N[9]:

log(1 r )
N=
log(1 (1 e) h )

The degree of disturbed state in the selected paths is

different too.

Define 4. Utilized frequency of node, denoted as Ui, means

the number of paths using node i. For some paths of one
source may comprise node i at the same time, the frequency
isnt equal to the number of sources used.

A path in WSN comprises nodes 1,2,,i,,m, denoted as

P = {1,2," , i," , m} . Parameters related it comprises the

utilized ratio of buffers, load factor and utilized frequency.

Define 5. The buffer utilized ratio in path P is denoted as

BOp, which means the max of the buffer utilized ratio BOi,

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namely BO p = max{BOi | i P} , and 1 BO p implying the

capability of an entire path to forwarding data.

Else sets E p = E p

LFP = max{LFi | i P} = max i | i P .

C
i

Define 7. Utilized frequency of path, denoted as Up,

namely U p = max{U i | i P} .

IV.

2) Assigning Traffic
Before sending data, the source must select several paths
having good performance (called finding routes). Above all,
the source sends route-finding request information. The nodes
receiving the route-finding information send PREP (path
response) to source. Eventually, several paths are constructed
between source and destination.
In PREP, reserved four bytes as BL, PF, EP and PU. BL is
used to store the utilized ratio of buffer, PF is used to store
the load factor, EP is used to store the residuary energy, PU is
used to store the utilized frequency of the path. In the process
of constructing paths, when a node receives a PREP, the
Utilized frequency Ui increases 1, and the node updates
corresponding values in PREP as
BL = max{BL, BOi }, PF = max{PF , LFi },

Ep=EP.
Traffic that source wants to send is S bit, available paths is
m, requisite paths is N. And it is assumed
The energy consumption is constant , when the node
sends 1 bit data;

(3)

The traffic assign mechanism can be described as algorithm

1.

1 p N

CONGESTION DETECTION AND MITIGATION

BOi < 1 means the buffer isnt saturation, LFi < 1

means the inflow velocity is less than the outflow
velocity, which implies the utilized ratio of buffer will
shrink more. When BOi < 1 or LFi < 1 , NCi > 0 .
This implies node is in a state of proper.

If NCi > 0 , it implies the downstream nodes are in

order. The node goes on forwarding data to
downstream, and forwards PREP to upstream. If the
NCi of the node is less than the NCi in PREP, the node
updates the NCi in PREP by itself.

V.

ANALYSIS AND SIMULATION

A. Performance Analysis
In algorithm 1, source computes C p and

1 p N

Ep

S;
p

Finally, source readjusts the traffic on all paths based on

received NCi from all paths. If NCi=0 in any one path, the
source calls algorithm 1.

Algorithm 1. Traffic Assign

Begin:
Get BOp, LFp, EP and Up of every path;
Computes Cp, and sorts Cp by desc;
Selects N paths having max Cp from m, and Assigns traffic
Cp
as
S for the p path;
Cp

S ) >= E p sets S = S

When forwarding data, each node in path computes NCi

and sends it to upstream by PREP. If NCi = 0 , the node stops
receiving data. Upstream nodes (not source) get PREP, do:
If NCi, in PREP, is 0, it implies the downstream nodes
are in congestion. The node stops to forward data to
downstream nodes and forwards PREP to upstream.

The node receiving data doesnt consume energy.

Cp

Cp

Different from references[1-4], MR-CACM integrates the

utilized ratio of buffer and level of channel load to measure
congestion, and automatically adjusts traffic.
Define 8. NCi is communication capability factor of node.
Namely, NCi = (1 BOi ) F ( LFi ) , NCi [0,1] .
It implies the capability receiving and forwarding of node.
From BOi and formula (3), conclusions can be drawn as
follows:

BOi = 1 means the buffer is saturation, LFi 1 means

the inflow velocity is more than the outflow velocity.
When BOi = 1 or LFi 1 , NCi = 0 . This implies
node is in a state of congestion and begins to throw
away coming data.

EP = min{EP, Ei }, PU = max{PU , U i }
Ei is the residuary energy of the node. Eventually, source
node receives a new PREP, and affirms that a new path has
been constructed. The values of related parameters is
BO p = BL, LFp = PF , U p = PU , and energy of the path is

If (

S , S = S

End
By algorithm 1, traffic is assigned fairly to the paths, which
have enough energy, excellent receiving capability and
forwarding capability. So congestion can be avoided
considerably. But, in fact, along with the decreasing of energy
and increasing of source, congestion may emerge in some
areas. WSN needs congestion detection and mitigation
mechanism.

which implies the max of the load factor LFi , namely

For simple description, let

E p (1 BO p ) F ( LFp )
.
Cp =
Up

1 p N

Define 6. The load factor of path P is denoted as LFP ,

Cp

C p according

to formula (3), and assign traffic on paths based on

, Ep = 0 ;

1 p N

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Cp

Cp

increasing of sources, the capability of paths is in decreasing

trend. But the decreasing trend begins to smooth from six
sources. So randomly selected six sources are B(880,640),
C(830,300),
D(575,530),
E(630,990),
F(740,670),
G(280,760), as figure 1 shown.

As a result, more traffic is assigned to the paths having high

Cp
.
Cp
According to formula (3), assigned traffic on paths relates
to energy of path, utilized ratio of buffer and level of channel
load, as follows:
The residual energy of the path is bigger, the assigned
traffic is more;

The utilized ratio of buffer is higher, the assigned

traffic is less;

According to formula (2), the level of path load is

higher, the assigned traffic is less; and

A node may participate in more than one path. The

node participates in more pathes, a path which the
node participates in may be assigned less traffic.

Figure2. Max transmitting capability of paths

In simulation, each source uses sending velocity as figure 3

shown. In 0~20s and 70~100s, there is no event. Each source
sends data as 5packets/sec. The data are basic information as
finding neighbors, maintaining routing etc to keep WSN in
proper. In 20~70s, the velocity increases gradually and the
max velocity is 140packets/sec. The expectant reliability is
randomly set in 0.80~0.97, when sources explore events
occurring and form data. According to formula (1), the
demand number of paths is computed. And according to
reference[8], the demand paths with small disturb is
constructed.

So in the process of assignment and readjustment, MRCACM integrates fairness, congestion state and energy state.
According to algorithm 1, The complexity is O 2 () .

B. Simulation Results
In this part, wrote a packet-level simulation program to
obtain preliminary performance evaluation results for MRCACM. Also discuss the implications of the results on the
design that shape MR-CACM. And compared the
performance between Uniform Traffic Allocation[3] and MRCACM.

Figure3. Sending velocity

Figure 1. WSN simulation topology

In all experiments, random topology is used to Generates

sensor network of 100 meters square by placing nodes
randomly in a square area as shown figure 1. It is supposed to
keep the nominal radio range (5 meters in our simulations)
constant in order to approximately maintain the average
density of sensor nodes constant. Sink is A(10,10).
Simulations use a 1 Mbps IEEE 802.11 MAC provided in
ns-2 simulator with some modifications. Supposing the size of
node buffer is 8 packets, original energy is 0~10J, the error
ratio of channel is 10% in entire network (under IEEE 802.11
ARQ).
In order to get the effects of mutual disturb and competition
among nodes, simulates the max transmitting capability of
paths, which results is as figure 2 shown. Following the

Figure 4. Packet drop ratio of two algorithms

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Packet drop ratio is compared between Uniform Traffic

Allocation and MR-CACM. The result is as figure 4 shown.
Following the increasing of velocity, the packet drop ratio of
two algorithms becomes greater. But the packet drop ratio is
comparatively smaller in MR-CACM due to considering fair,
congestion state and energy level. 100packets/sec is after
congestion (140packets/sec), the packet drop ratio of MRCACM is less than Uniform Traffic Allocation. It implies that
the congestion control mechanism is more efficiency, and the
network can recover rapidly from congestion state.

Traffic Allocation, and to consume away more energy. In

figure 7, following the increasing of data, the throughput is
increasing too. Moreover, the throughput is greater in MRCACM.

Figure 7. Throughput

VI.

CONCLUSIONS

In this paper, according to the multi-path routing mode,

proposed MR-CACM. For avoiding congestion, it can assign
fairly traffic to the paths which haves high residual energy
level and favorable traffic capability. When the congestion is
inevitable, according to NCi, it can readjust the traffic of paths
and mitigate congestion rapidly. The results of simulations
validate MR-CACM has favorable effect in reliability, low
consumption and high throughput.

Figure 5. Reliability of two algorithms

In figure 5, it compares the reliability of two algorithms. At

the beginning, traffic is small, the source use one path to
sending data, the reliability lies on the error ratio of channel
and the disturbance of paths. When the velocity is
40packets/sec, the reliability becomes greater due to the
source adopts multi-path to send data. Following the
increasing of traffic, disturbance among paths is increasing
too and the reliability becomes descending gradually.
Comparatively, the reliability of MR-CACM is greater. It
implies that the traffic assignment is reasonable in MRCACM, and can mitigate congestion degree rapidly.

REFERENCES
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[2]

[3]

[4]

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Figure 6. Energy consumption of one source

Also, energy consumption and throughput are simulated.

The results are as figure 6, figure 7 shown. In figure 6, the
average energy consumption of one source in MR-CACM is
less than that in Uniform Traffic Allocation. It implies the
opportunity to congest and re-forward is higher in Uniform

[9]

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