Abstract
A large number of wireless sensor nodes in a certain area results in
high contention. Inevitably, the transmissions of any possible critical
data packets may fail due to collisions. In this article, we introduce
an aspect of human intelligence in wireless sensor networks, influenced
by cooperative networking, which enhances the timely delivery of
critical data. Mutual aid among sensors (MAAS), is an emergency
out-of-the-box medium access control (MAC) function for IEEE
802.15.4-2020. Specifically, the network coordinator detects critical
data packets and sets an emergency flag to its next beacon, to inform
the nodes that they may overhear data packets. When a node overhears a
critical data packet from a neighboring node it switches to sleep mode
and stays idle until the end of the superframe. Thus, interference is
mitigated locally and temporarily. Simulation results, using the CC2650
radio parameters in OMNeT++, show that interference is reduced
significantly, in favor of the timely delivery of critical data packets.