Delay-Aware Dual-Interface Gateway Activation for Energy-Efficient Data Collection in IoT

The proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT) has elevated the demand for energy-efficient gateway solutions, particularly for battery-powered Wi-Fi devices functioning as gateways in IoT data collection. Traditional approaches either neglect gateway energy consumption or struggle to balance energy efficiency with delay requirements. To address this, we introduce the Dual-interface Gateway Activation (DGA) scheme, a significant advancement enhancing IoT gateway energy management via interactive cooperation between ZigBee and Wi-Fi. DGA’s core innovation lies in its dual-interface design and heterogeneity-aware activation strategy. By leveraging coexisting low-power ZigBee communications, DGA dynamically activates the gateway’s high-power Wi-Fi interface only when necessary for data reception, effectively decoupling power consumption from continuous Wi-Fi operation. Meanwhile, DGA conservatively schedules high-reliability Wi-Fi sessions to augment unreliable ZigBee communications, thereby ensuring prompt gateway activation for delay-bounded data delivery under varying network conditions. This innovative approach not only guarantees high energy efficiency but also low latency, overcoming the limitations of single-interface gateways. Experimental validation of our prototype system demonstrates DGA’s superior performance, achieving up to 62.1% and 45.9% reductions in gateway energy consumption compared to state-of-the-art single-interface and dual-interface solutions, respectively. Additionally, DGA attains lower node energy consumption, further highlighting its potential to enable more energy-efficient IoT networks.