A Progressively Reliable Image Transport Protocol over Wireless Sensor Networks

Images are extensively used in Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks (WMSN) for surveillance and object monitoring. The transmission of image data constitutes a significant portion of network bandwidth. Given the inherent differences of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) from wired networks, such as high probability of non-congestion related packet loss, very low bandwidth, Quality of Service (QoS) requirements, and limited processing power, the traditional transport protocol---the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)---is not suitable for transferring images over WSN. In this thesis, a Progressively Reliable Image Transport Protocol---PITP, is proposed. First, with the support of progressive JPEG and out-of-order delivery of packets, this new protocol can display images smoothly with incremental quality. Second, this protocol guarantees receiver-controlled reliability and sound congestion control. In addition, a synchronization control mechanism is proposed within the protocol. A series of experiments are designed and simulated with ns2 to evaluate the performance of PITP. According to the results, PITP is proved to be suitable for image transmission over WSN