A Simulation Model for Industrial Multi-Channel Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

Abstract-The use of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) in industrial environments is subject to problems, such as shadowing and fading. In addition, the wireless channel in many industrial environments is non-stationary for a long term, which can cause abrupt changes in the characteristics of the channel over time. A way to deal with those problems is the use of multi-channel protocols. However, it is difficult to evaluate, and compare different approaches because there is no reliable simulation model for industrial environments. This paper presents experimental results that characterize the wireless channel in industrial environments, and proposes a simulation model that captures the effects of fading, shadowing, and the non-stationary characteristics of the channel. It also considers the differences in the behavior of the different channels, and the asymmetry of the links. The model was integrated into the open source simulator Castalia. After the integration, two simulation studies were performed with the proposed model. In the first one, the Tree-based Multi-Channel Protocol was implemented and evaluated, and a comparison was made with the default model from Castalia. In the second case, CSMA/CA protocol, as defined in IEEE 802.15.4 standard, was compared to a protocol based on Time-Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH) mode of IEEE 802.15.4e standard. The results showed that the use of TDMA and channel hopping is an alternative to deal with the problems of wireless channels in industrial environments.

Avaliação do Uso de Adaptação de Canal e Estimação de Qualidade de Enlace em Redes TSCH

“…Em [13], um modelo de simulação foi desenvolvido para simular protocolos multicanais para RSSFI. O modelo captura os efeitos do desvanecimento, sombreamento e as características não-estacionárias do canal em ambientes industriais, além de considerar as diferenças no comportamento dos 16 canais e a assimetria dos enlaces.…”

Evaluation of Channels Blacklists in TSCH Networks with Star and Tree Topologies

“…In [7], a simulation model was developed to simulate multi-channel protocols for Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSN). The model captures the effects of fading, shadowing and non-stationary channel characteristics in industrial environments, as well as considering differences in the behavior and link asymmetry of the 16 channels.…”

“…In industrial environments, there are usually several invariant rays, and only a small part of the multipath profile is affected by moving objects [11]. As described in [7], this distribution was also implemented in the simulation model, and the wireless channel parameters are defined as indicated in Table 2 in the Castalia simulation script. Figure 4 illustrates the operation of the simulator in relation to the power reception of packets, and the effects caused by the industrial environments in the network performance.…”

On the availability versus transmitted power of wireless sensor networks in Rayleigh multipath fading environments

“…Furthermore, to define bit error rate as well as packet error rate of specific system, novel adaptive fading statistics in industrial sensor networks were proposed in Olofsson et al, (2016). Simulation model that characterize the wireless channel in industrial environments under Rician fading, was proposed in Gomes et al, (2017).…”