  The IETF 6TiSCH working group fosters the adaptation of IPv6-based protocols
into Internet of Things by introducing the 6TiSCH Operation Sublayer (6top).
The 6TiSCH architecture integrates the high reliability and low-energy
consumption of IEEE 802.15.4e Time Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH) with IPv6.
IEEE 802.15.4e TSCH defines only the communication between nodes through a
schedule but it does not specify how the resources are allocated for
communication between the nodes in 6TiSCH networks. We propose a distributed
algorithm for bandwidth allocation, called Local Voting, that adapts the
schedule to the network conditions. The algorithm tries to equalize the link
load (defined as the ratio of the queue length plus the new packet arrivals,
over the number of allocated cells) through cell reallocation by calculating
the number of cells to be added or released by 6top. Simulation results show
that equalizing the load throughout 6TiSCH network provides better fairness in
terms of load, reduces the queue sizes and packets reach the root faster
compared to representative algorithms from the literature. Local Voting
combines good delay performance and energy efficiency that are crucial features
for Industrial Internet-of-Things applications.
