Buffer Resets: A Packet-Discarding Policy for Timely Physiological Data Collection in Virtual Reality Gaming Systems

Affective virtual reality (VR) gaming systems rely on timely physiological data collection, in order to generate personalized responses that enhance the emotional impact of a video game on its user. In this context, we propose a simple policy for timely data collection from wireless sensor nodes placed on the human body. Our policy is applied at each sensor node. Upon each packet arrival, we check whether the buffer is full or not. If the buffer is full, then we empty it before adding the packet. In this very simple way, we avoid buffer congestion and impose timeliness. We simulated this aggressive buffer reset policy using a body area network model in OMNeT++. By varying the packet generation rate of each node, we showed that our policy outperforms first-come-first-served and last-come-first-served queueing policies in terms of peak age while packet reception is barely affected. Buffer resets can be easily integrated into existing random access protocols to support timely data collection.