Evaluation of Multi-Channel Communication for an Outdoor Industrial Wireless Sensor Network

This paper describes an experimental study which investigates relevant properties of multi-channel wireless communications in an outdoor industrial environment. A testbed of IEEE 802.15.4 radios was developed in order to evaluate the performance of the 16 channels defined by the standard, at all the nodes, simultaneously. From the collected data, some relevant facts are discussed, such as the spatial variations in channel quality, the differences in the characteristics of different channels, the link asymmetry, and the non-stationary characteristics of the channel. The possible problems that can arise in the deployment of industrial wireless sensor networks, based on the characteristics of the standards developed for this type of network, are described, as well as some possible solutions