Routing via Multiple Paths and Multiple Technologies in IoT Networks: Proof-of-Concept Demonstration

With the invent of many new wireless technologies, the concept of Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming a reality and is generating an enormous amount of data collectively. To handle routing of this massive traffic in a wireless network we require specialized, cost-effective routing devices and protocols. Transmitting IoT data over a wireless back-haul network using a single technology may lead to low throughput and increased delay due to high congestion. Critical IoT applications may not tolerate such a low throughput and high delay. To tackle this problem, in this paper, we propose Routing via Multiple Paths and Multiple Technologies (RMPMT) protocol to realize the concept of Parallel opportunistic Routing (POR) where multiple paths and multiple technologies are exploited in an IoT network to route the data. We have implemented the proposed RMPMT protocol by mounting multiple wireless interfaces (technologies) on Raspberry Pi and measured the effectiveness of the proposed protocol by transmitting data in real-time. Furthermore, we also propose a split window automatic repeat request to provide guaranteed packet delivery in multi-path and multi-technology environment.