Reaction-diffusion on dynamic inhibition areas: A bio-inspired link scheduling algorithm

We present the Dynamic Inhibition Areas Reaction-Diffusion (DIA-RD) algorithm, a distributed medium access control protocol that globally maximizes the spatial reusability (number of simultaneous transmissions per unit area) of wireless sensor networks. This algorithm is able, in consequence, to minimize the number of time slots needed to schedule the set of demanded links, making it very efficient to solve the Shortest Link Schedule problem. DIA-RD combines accurate interference management, provided by the use of dynamic inhibition areas based on the physical interference model; and global intelligent behavior, provided by the bio-inspired technique known as Reaction-Diffusion. This technique ensures global convergence to dense feasible transmission patterns (no active link inside the inhibition area of other active link) in a decentralized way. Experimental results show that our DIA-RD algorithm provides superior performance, in terms of spatial reusability, than the best state-of-the-art approaches, namely the DIA-LS, RD-MAC, GOW* and ML² S algorithms.