Temporal Adaptive Link Quality Prediction with Online Learning

Link quality estimation is a fundamental component of the low-power wireless network protocols and is essential for routing protocols in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). However, accurate link quality estimation remains a challenging task due to the notoriously dynamic and unpredictable wireless environment. In this article we argue that, in addition to the estimation of current link quality, prediction of the future link quality is more important for the routing protocol to establish low-cost delivery paths. We propose to apply machine learning methods to predict the link quality in the near future to facilitate the utilization of intermediate links with frequent quality changes. Moreover, we show that, by using online learning methods, our adaptive link estimator (TALENT) adapts to network dynamics better than statically trained models without the need of a priori data collection for training the model before deployment. We implemented TALENT in TinyOS with Low-Power Listening (LPL) and conducted extensive experiments in three testbeds. Our experimental results show that the addition of TALENT increases the delivery efficiency 1.95 times on average compared with a 4B, state-of-the-art link quality estimator, as well as improves the end-to-end delivery rate when tested on three different wireless testbeds.