Virtualization of Wireless Sensor Networks Through MAC Layer Resource Scheduling

In this paper, we propose a joint throughput and time-resource allocation scheme for the virtualization of IEEE 802.15.4-based wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Virtualization is realized through utilization of the guaranteed time slot (GTS) mechanism of cluster-tree topology to schedule resources on a media access control (MAC) layer. We develop a scheduler that is located in the personal area network (PAN) coordinator and that virtualizes the network into an aggregate of independent profiles, assigning the available resources to each profile with end-to-end (ETE) delay guarantees. The scheduler solves the problem of managing resources available in the network in an optimization framework, taking into consideration the individual profile and sensor requirements. Moreover, it uses the proposed heuristic fair resource allocation (FRA) algorithm to derive the solution in polynomial time. We validate the scheduling performance via discrete event simulation (DES) and compare the proposed FRA algorithm with round robin (RR) and proportionally fair (PF) scheduling algorithms in several scenarios. The proposed scheme demonstrates efficient resource management while maintaining profile isolation in all cases, whereas other algorithms lead to increased latency and lower throughput in the network.