A Comprehensive Survey of Congestion Control Protocols in Wireless Sensor Networks

Congestion control and reliable data delivery are two primary functions of the transport layer in wired and wireless networks. Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are a special category of wireless ad hoc networks with unique characteristics and important limitations. Limitations concern their resources, such as energy, memory, and computational power, as well as their applications. Due to these limitations and characteristics, the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), the legacy protocol that implements congestion control and reliable transmission in the Internet, cannot apply to WSNs in its traditional form. To deal with this unavailability of a standard solution, many efforts are taking place in this area. In this paper, we review, classify, and compare algorithms, protocols, and mechanisms that deal directly with congestion control and avoidance in WSNs.