TSCH and RPL Joining Time Model for Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks

[EN] Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) play a key role in the ecosystem of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and the definition of today's Industry 4.0. These WSNs have the ability to sensor large amounts of data, thanks to their easy scalability. WSNs allow the deployment of a large number of self-configuring nodes and the ability to automatically reorganize in case of any change in the topology. This huge sensorization capacity, together with its interoperability with IP-based networks, allows the systems of Industry 4.0 to be equipped with a powerful tool with which to digitalize a huge amount of variables in the different industrial processes. The IEEE 802.15.4e standard, together with the access mechanism to the Time Slotted Channel Hopping medium (TSCH) and the dynamic Routing Protocol for Low-Power and Lossy Networks (RPL), allow deployment of networks with the high levels of robustness and reliability necessary in industrial scenarios. However, these configurations have some disadvantages in the deployment and synchronization phases of the networks, since the time it takes to synchronize the nodes is penalized compared to other solutions in which access to the medium is done randomly and without channel hopping. This article proposes an analytical model to characterize the behavior of this type of network, based on TSCH and RPL during the phases of deployment along with synchronization and connection to the RPL network. Through this model, validated by simulation and real tests, it is possible to parameterize different configurations of a WSN network based on TSCH and RPL.This work has been supported by the MCyU (Spanish Ministry of Science and Universities) under the project ATLAS (PGC2018-094151-B-I00), which is partially funded by AEI, FEDER and EU.Vera-Pérez, J.; Silvestre-Blanes, J.; Sempere Paya, VM. (2021). TSCH and RPL Joining Time Model for Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks. Sensors. 21(11):1-17. https://doi.org/10.3390/s21113904117211

An Analytical Model for Wireless Mesh Networks with Collision-Free TDMA and Finite Queues

Wireless mesh networks are a promising technology for connecting sensors and actuators with high flexibility and low investment costs. In industrial applications, however, reliability is essential. Therefore, two time-slotted medium access methods, DSME and TSCH, were added to the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. They allow collision-free communication in multi-hop networks and provide channel hopping for mitigating external interferences. The slot schedule used in these networks is of high importance for the network performance. This paper supports the development of efficient schedules by providing an analytical model for the assessment of such schedules, focused on TSCH. A Markov chain model for the finite queue on every node is introduced that takes the slot distribution into account. The models of all nodes are interconnected to calculate network metrics such as packet delivery ratio, end-to-end delay and throughput. An evaluation compares the model with a simulation of the Orchestra schedule. The model is applied to Orchestra as well as to two simple distributed scheduling algorithms to demonstrate the importance of traffic-awareness for achieving high throughput.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figure

Energy savvy network joining strategies for energy harvesting powered TSCH nodes

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from IEEE via the DOI in this recordThis paper presents methods that enable batteryless energy harvesting powered Time Synchronized Channel Hopping (TSCH) wireless sensor nodes to join a network with less energy wastage. Network joining of TSCH nodes is a very power hungry yet inevitable process to form a working wireless sensor network (WSN). Since the energy level from energy harvesting is scarce, energy passive methods are essential. A duty-cycled network joining process in combination with an appropriate capacitor size is proposed here as they are among the factors that can be easily controlled without extra energy. When a node joins the network in a duty-cycled manner, other nodes may join the network during the gap time, which reduces energy wastage of the nodes in waiting. With an appropriate capacitor size, the capacitor can be charged up within a reasonable time and power up the node for a sufficiently long time, which increases the probability to complete the network joining process of the node. With the combination of a join duty cycle of 50% with a 100 mF capacitor, a WSN was successfully formed by two energy harvesting powered wireless sensor nodes in one network joining attempt.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

Beacon Advertising in an IEEE 802.15.4e TSCH Network for Space Launch Vehicles

International audienceIn space launch vehicles, a NASA study shows that the mass per channel of 0.45 kg for a wiring approach can be reduced to 0.09 kg for a wireless approach. 8 A question arises: which wireless technology is able to meet the requirements of space launch vehicles in terms of latency, throughput and robustness. The IEEE 802.15.4e amendment has been designed to meet such requirements. More specifically, the Time Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH) mode has been designed for industrial automation, process control and equipment monitoring. It supports multichannel and multihop communications and uses a slotted medium access on several channels. In this paper, we focus on the time needed by a joining node to detect beacons advertising the TSCH network. An Enhanced beacon is a TSCH frame that contains information on synchronization, channel hopping and timeslot used in the advertised network. However, the advertising policy is left unspecified by the IEEE 802.15.4e standard and is under the responsibility of a layer upper than the MAC one. Since beacons are broadcast, they are lost in case of collisions: the vital information they carry is lost. The main problem is how to avoid collisions between two devices that are not neighbors. In this paper, we propose a Deterministic Beacon Advertising Algorithm, called DBA. The goal of DBA is to ensure that beacons are transmitted on all frequencies used by the TSCH network, regularly and without collision. With DBA, the exact value for the maximum time for a joining node to detect a beacon can be computed easily. We use the NS3 Simulator to evaluate this time as well as the the number of message losses, considering different network topologies (star or multihop). We compare the performance of DBA with this of two algorithms existing in the state of the art

Otimização da eficiência energética em redes operando com tsch: avaliação analítica de uma implementação prática.

The IEEE 802.15.4-2015 standard defines a number of Medium Access Control (MAC) layer protocols for low power wireless communications, which is desirable for constrained Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Originally defined in IEEE 802.15.4e amendment, the Time Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH) is recently attracting the attention from the research community, due to its reduced contention (time scheduling) and robustness (channel hopping). However, the TSCH needs a certain level of synchronization between the nodes, which can lead to a higher energy consumption. A guard time mechanism is implemented to ensure that the nodes will hear the frames even if they are not perfectly synchronized. In this work, we implement the Guard Beacon strategy, aiming to reduce the guard time, and present a realistic energy consumption model for a Contiki OS-based TSCH networks. The analytical values have a good match with the results obtained from the Contiki Powertrace Tool running on a real TSCH network and demonstrate that the proposed scheme can reduce the overall power consumption of each node by 13.05%.O padrão IEEE 802.15.4-2015 define novos protocolos para a camada de acesso ao meio (MAC, do inglês Medium Access Control) com foco em redes de comunicação sem fio com baixo consumo de energia, o que é desejável para dispositivos de Internet das Coisas (IoT, do inglês Internet of Things) que apresentam restrições energéticas. Originalmente definido na emenda IEEE 802.15.4e, o esquema de Salto de Canais por Intervalo de Tempo (TSCH, do inglês Time Slotted Channel Hopping) tem atraído atenção da comunidade científica devido ao nível reduzido de contenção (agendamento no tempo) e robustez (salto de canais). Entretanto, para operar corretamente o TSCH necessita de um determinado nível de sincronização entre os nós da rede, o que pode levar a um maior consumo de energia. Um mecanismo de tempo de guarda é implementado para assegurar que os nós irão “ouvir” os pacotes ainda que não estejam perfeitamente sincronizados. Neste trabalho, implementa-se a estratégia de Guard Beacon visando reduzir o tempo de guarda necessário, e se apresenta um modelo de consumo de energia realista para redes operando com TSCH e Sistema Operacional Contiki. Os resultados analíticos têm boa precisão quando comparados com os resultados obtidos de uma rede TSCH real através da ferramenta Powertrace do Contiki e demonstram que o esquema proposto pode reduzir o consumo de energia geral de cada nó em até 13,05%

A Performance Analysis of the Network Formation Process in IEEE 802.15.4e TSCH Wireless Sensor/Actuator Networks

Time Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH) is one of the access behavior modes defined in the IEEE 802.15.4e standard. It combines time slotted access with multi-channel and channel hopping capabilities, providing predictable latency, energy efficiency, high network capacity, and high communication reliability. In this paper we focus on the formation process of TSCH networks, which relies on the regular advertisement of Enhanced Beacons (EBs). We consider a simple random-based advertisement algorithm, and evaluate its performance, through analysis and simulation, in terms of joining time (i.e., total time taken by a new node to join the network). We found that the joining time depends on a number of factors and, mainly, on the number of channels used for EB advertisement