Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks are penetrating our daily lives, and they are starting to be deployed even in an industrial environment. The research on such industrial wireless sensor networks (IWSNs) considers more stringent requirements of robustness, reliability, and timeliness in each network layer. This Special Issue presents the recent research result on industrial wireless sensor networks. Each paper in this Special Issue has unique contributions in the advancements of industrial wireless sensor network research and we expect each paper to promote the relevant research and the deployment of IWSNs

Análise do impacto da comunicação em redes wirelesshart no desempenho de sistemas de controle

Este trabalho analisa o uso do protocolo WirelessHART para a implementação de sistemas de controle em laço fechado. São discutidas possíveis arquiteturas de implementação de laços de controle, as quais se diferem basicamente pelo local na arquitetura do sistema de controle em rede em que o controlador será executado. Optou-se pela análise do comportamento do protocolo WirelessHART numa arquitetura que considera o módulo de controle localizado num dispositivo host, o qual se comunica via HART-UDP com o gateway da rede. Para a análise da proposta desta dissertação foram descritos os mecanismos necessários para a realização do laço de controle sobre uma rede WirelessHART real, em um ambiente que apresenta todas as características de uma instalação industrial. Os resultados obtidos mostram que, com a arquitetura proposta, o laço de controle apresenta latências não determinísticas. Para a realização deste trabalho, foram apresentados dois estudos de caso: (i) o controle de uma válvula comumente utilizada na indústria de petróleo; (ii) e um processo simulado, que considera um controlador baseado em eventos, onde o sinal de controle é calculado de acordo com os tempos de comunicação permitidos pela rede entre o controlador e o processo. Os resultados obtidos mostram que é possível efetuar controle apesar dos atrasos ocasionados pela rede, desde que sejam levados em conta estes atrasos no cálculo do sinal de controle, podendo assim mostrar há degradação no desempenho do sistema sob controle.This work analyzes the use of WirelessHART protocol for the implementation of closed-loop control systems. It discusses possible architectures for implementing control loops, which differ by the location where the controller is executing. For the performance evaluation of the WirelessHART protocol behavior, an architecture that considers the control module located in a device, which communicates via Hart-UDP with the network gateway. The Experimental evaluations presented in this dissertation were performed in a setting that has all the characteristics of an industrial installation. The results showed that in the proposed architecture, the control loop has not deterministic latencies. Two case studies were carried on: (i) the control of a valve commonly used in oil and gas industrial applications; (ii) and a simulated process that considers an event-based controller where the control signal is calculated according to the communication time allowed by the network between the controller and the process. The results show that it is possible to perform control despite network delays, when taking into account the delays in the calculation of the control signal

Efficient Evaluation of Wireless Real-Time Control Networks

In this paper, we present a system simulation framework for the design and performance evaluation of complex wireless cyber-physical systems. We describe the simulator architecture and the specific developments that are required to simulate cyber-physical systems relying on multi-channel, multihop mesh networks. We introduce realistic and efficient physical layer models and a system simulation methodology, which provides statistically significant performance evaluation results with low computational complexity. The capabilities of the proposed framework are illustrated in the example of WirelessHART, a centralized, real-time, multi-hop mesh network designed for industrial control and monitor applications