Survey on wireless technology trade-offs for the industrial internet of things

Aside from vast deployment cost reduction, Industrial Wireless Sensor and Actuator Networks (IWSAN) introduce a new level of industrial connectivity. Wireless connection of sensors and actuators in industrial environments not only enables wireless monitoring and actuation, it also enables coordination of production stages, connecting mobile robots and autonomous transport vehicles, as well as localization and tracking of assets. All these opportunities already inspired the development of many wireless technologies in an effort to fully enable Industry 4.0. However, different technologies significantly differ in performance and capabilities, none being capable of supporting all industrial use cases. When designing a network solution, one must be aware of the capabilities and the trade-offs that prospective technologies have. This paper evaluates the technologies potentially suitable for IWSAN solutions covering an entire industrial site with limited infrastructure cost and discusses their trade-offs in an effort to provide information for choosing the most suitable technology for the use case of interest. The comparative discussion presented in this paper aims to enable engineers to choose the most suitable wireless technology for their specific IWSAN deployment

Uso de técnicas de combinação de diversidade e fatores de espalhamento estendidos para melhorar a performance e reduzir a complexidade do receptor OFDM em IEEE 802.15.4g

Orientadores: Renato da Rocha Lopes, Eduardo Rodrigues de LimaDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de ComputaçãoResumo: EEE 802.15.4g é um adendo da norma IEEE 802.15.4 focada em Smart Utility Network (SUN), e dedicada a requisitos de comunicação no contexto de Low Rate (LR) Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN). Hoje em dia, devido às suas características, o adendo foca em apliações de Smart Ubiquitous Network, como cidades inteligentes e Internet das Coisas (IoT). Uma das três Camadas Físicas (PHYs) definidas na norma é a Multi-Rate and Multi-Regional Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (MR-OFDM). Além de outras características, o MR-OFDM emprega o método Frequency Spreading (FS) para reduzir a Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) do símbolo OFDM. Sob algumas premissas do canal, este trabalho mostra que o FS também pode introduzir diversidade em frequência à camada física. Este trabalho propõe um método para reverter o espalhamento de frequência que explora diversidade em IEEE 802.15.4g MR-OFDM. O método segue duas abordagens: o uso de técnicas de combinação de diversidade e a proposta de novas configurações de Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) usando fatores de espalhamento estendidos. Em um canal com distribuição Rayleigh e assumindo subportadoras não correlacionadas, o método proposto mostra melhorias de até 10.35 dB quando comparado ao MR-OFDM, revertendo o espa-lhamento de frequência de forma direta, usando configurações originais. O método é válido mesmo na presença de erros na estimativa do canal e bandas de coerência largas. O trabalho faz parte de um projeto maior que visa a implementação de um circuito integrado capaz de suportar as três camadas físicas definias em IEEE 802.15.4g, não apenas o MR-OFDM. Devido a isso, o método deve ser totalmente compatível com a norma e focar na complexidade de implementação do receptor MR-OFDMAbstract: IEEE 802.15.4g is an amendment of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard focused on Smart Utility Networks (SUN), and devoted to the communication requirements of Low Rate Wireless Personal Area Network (LR-WPAN). Nowadays, due to its characteristics, the amendment focuses on Smart Ubiquitous Network applications, such as Smart City and Internet of Things (IoT). One of the three Physical Layers (PHYs) defined in the standard is the Multi-Rate and Multi-Regional Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (MR-OFDM). In addition to other features, the MR-OFDM employs frequency spreading to reduce the Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) of the OFDM symbol. Under some channel assumptions, this frequency spreading can also introduce frequency diversity to the PHY. This work proposes a method to perform frequency despreading that exploits diversity in the IEEE 802.15.4g MR-OFDM PHY. The method follows two approaches: the use of diversity combining techniques and the proposal of new Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) configurations using extended spreading factors. In a channel with Rayleigh distribution and assuming uncorrelated subcarriers, the proposed method shows improvements up to 10.35 dB when compared to the MR-OFDM performing frequency despreading using original configurations. The method is valid even in the presence of channel estimation errors and large channel coherence bandwidths. The work is part of a larger project which aims at the implementation of an Integrated Circuit capable of handling the three PHYs defined in the IEEE802.15.4g, not only the MR-OFDM. Thus, the method must be fully compliant to the standard and focus on the MR-OFDM receiver implementation complexityMestradoTelecomunicações e TelemáticaMestre em Engenharia Elétric

Sub-GHz LPWAN network coexistence, management and virtualization : an overview and open research challenges

The IoT domain is characterized by many applications that require low-bandwidth communications over a long range, at a low cost and at low power. Low power wide area networks (LPWANs) fulfill these requirements by using sub-GHz radio frequencies (typically 433 or 868 MHz) with typical transmission ranges in the order of 1 up to 50 km. As a result, a single base station can cover large areas and can support high numbers of connected devices (> 1000 per base station). Notorious initiatives in this domain are LoRa, Sigfox and the upcoming IEEE 802.11ah (or "HaLow") standard. Although these new technologies have the potential to significantly impact many IoT deployments, the current market is very fragmented and many challenges exists related to deployment, scalability, management and coexistence aspects, making adoption of these technologies difficult for many companies. To remedy this, this paper proposes a conceptual framework to improve the performance of LPWAN networks through in-network optimization, cross-technology coexistence and cooperation and virtualization of management functions. In addition, the paper gives an overview of state of the art solutions and identifies open challenges for each of these aspects

Comparação experimental do desempenho de tecnologias emergentes de low power wide area networks para IoT

Orientadores: Gustavo Fraidenraich, Eduardo Rodrigues de LimaDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de ComputaçãoResumo: Esta dissertação apresenta resultados experimentais para a avaliação de dois circuitos integrados para conectividade IoT, usando uma abordagem sistemática. Um dos circuitos é dedicado a LoRa, enquanto o outro utiliza o padrão IEEE 802.15.4g adotado pela Wi-SUN Alliance. O objetivo desta avaliação é apresentar resultados que possam ajudar todos que pretendem utilizar LoRa, IEEE 802.15.4g/Wi-SUN ou outras opções de conectividade, facilitando a comparação entre essas tecnologias de forma justa e coerente. Os resultados mostram que existem diferenças entre os valores apresentados nos datasheet e os valores medidos durante os experimentos. Existem várias razões que justificam essas divergências, como a configuração dos experimentos, calibração dos equipamentos, o tamanho dos pacotes transmitidos e até as especificações dos testes. Esse resultado reforça a importância de uma abordagem sistemática para a comparação entre tecnologiasAbstract: This dissertation presents experimental results on the evaluation of two commercial integrated circuits for IoT connectivity, using a systematic approach. One of the integrated circuits is devoted to LoRa and the other to IEEE 802.15.4g, which is the physical layer adopted by the WI-SUN Alliance. The goal behind this evaluation is to present results to support those who will make use of LoRa, IEEE802.15.4g/Wi-SUN, or other types of connectivity to fairly compare the technologies. The results show that there are differences between datasheet values and the measures collected during the experiments. There are several reasons for this divergence, such as the experimental setup, equipment calibration, transmitted packet length, and test specifications. This highlights the importance of a systematical approach when comparing technologiesMestradoTelecomunicações e TelemáticaMestre em Engenharia Elétric

Design of an efficient binary phase-shift keying based IEEE 802.15.4 transceiver architecture and its performance analysis

The IEEE 802.15.4 physical layer (PHY) standard is one of the communication standards with wireless features by providing low-power and low-data rates in wireless personal area network (WPAN) applications. In this paper, an efficient IEEE 802.15.4 digital transceiver hardware architecture is designed using the binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) technique. The transceiver mainly has transmitter and receiver modules along with the error calculation unit. The BPSK modulation and demodulation are designed using a digital frequency synthesizer (DFS). The DFS is used to generate the in-phase (I) and quadrature-phase (Q) signals and also provides better system performance than the conventional voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) and look up table (LUT) based memory methods. The differential encoding-decoding mechanism is incorporated to recover the bits effectively and to reduce the hardware complexity. The simulation results are illustrated and used to find the error bits. The design utilizes less chip area, works at 268.2 MHz, and consumes 108 mW of total power. The IEEE 802.15.4 transceiver provides a latency of 3.5 clock cycles and works with a throughput of 76.62 Mbps. The bit error rate (BER) of 2×10-5 is achieved by the proposed digital transceiver and is suitable for real-time applications. The work is compared with existing similar approaches with better improvement in performance parameters

Étude de la fiabilité des communications dans un réseau de capteurs sans-fils appliqué aux mines souterraines

Étude de la fiabilité des communications dans un réseau de capteurs sans-fils appliqué aux mines souterraines Certes, l’aspect sécurité est le plus préoccupant du travail dans les mines souterraines. Aujourd’hui, plusieurs équipements hautement technologiques sont utilisés dans la mine. Parmi ces équipements, nous pouvons distinguer les outils de communications. En effet, dans une mine bien équipée, plusieurs sortes de réseaux informatiques sont déployés à des fins de sécurité et de supervision. Dans ce contexte, les réseaux de capteurs sans-fils (RCSF) sont de plus en plus utilisés dans la mine. Cela s’explique par le fait que ce type de réseau orienté application apporte plusieurs avantages par rapport aux réseaux classiques à savoir le caractère sans-fils, le faible coût, la tolérance à la défaillance et la facilité de déploiement dans les zones à haut risque. Cependant, les RCSF imposent quelques limitations qui ne sont pas considérées dans les réseaux classiques dont notamment la consommation d’énergie et la gestion des informations. L'enjeu de l’utilisation des RCSF dans la mine est de mettre en place des communications efficaces énergétiquement qui tiennent compte des différentes contraintes imposées par les équipements hétérogènes. Dans cette optique, le standard IEEE 802.15.4 apparaît comme un standard de fait pour les RCSF. Le succès de cette norme est visible dans le fait qu’aujourd'hui, il y a plus de dix couches physiques différentes proposées comme extension à la norme IEEE 802.15.4. C’est dans ce contexte que se positionne l’objectif de notre travail. Il s’agit dans notre projet de faire l’étude des performances du standard IEEE 802.15.4 en comparaison avec l’extension IEEE 802.15.4g. L’étude comparative des standards IEEE 802.15.4/4g par simulation et par un banc d’essai a fait l’objet de nos travaux. Les résultats de simulation ont été démontrés pour différent scénarios d’utilisation

Networking Technologies for Smart Cities: An Overview

Considering the complex architecture of Smart City environments it should not be forgotten that their foundation lies in communication technologies that allow connectivity and data transfer between the elements in Smart City environments. Wireless communications with their capabilities represent Smart City enabling technologies that gives the opportunity for their rapid and efficient implementation and expansion as well. In that field the evident trend is appearance of numerous technologies, which can be applied in variety of scenarios. In order to be able to make rapid deployment of the Smart City systems it is necessary to perform good analyses of performances and applicability of those technologies. By knowing the characteristics of particular technologies, the professionals will have the opportunity to develop efficient, cost effective and flexible Smart City systems by implementing the most suitable one. In this article the review and discussion on wireless technologies for enabling Smart City services is presented

5G-Wi-SUN for Building Management System

With higher data rates and lower latency, 5G constitutes a mobile alternative to both wired networks and less capable wireless solutions. However, the performance of 5G requires expensive hardware and high energy consumption, making it less suitable for energy-constrained edge devices. Combining the capabilities of 5G for Wide Area Network (WAN) access, with the benefits of other wireless networks purpose-built for low-power embedded systems, a Building Management System (BMS) based on 5G can be deployed anywhere in a building with 5G coverage extended with a suitable LPWAN connectivity for IoT devices of the BMS. In this paper, the LPWAN of choice is the Wireless Smart Utility Network (Wi-SUN), a low-power sub-GHz connectivity based on IEEE 802.15.4g, offering mesh and multi-hop features for improved reliability and range, alongside competitive data rates. The performance of a 5G-Wi-SUN hybrid network was evaluated with a fibre-broadband hybrid network, a 5G-only network and a Wi-SUN-only network to determine the feasibility of 5G-Wi-SUN network. Test results show a significant performance of our 5G-WiSUN network, with a round-trip times below half a second in most cases, and a trimean of 115ms, only 27ms more than the fibre broadband-WiSUN network in our experiment. Consequently, the results have demonstrated the ability of a 5G-Wi-SUN network to provide a versatile alternative to fibre broadband-WiSUN, while maintaining a comparable performance

The search for a convergent option to deploy smart grids on IoT scenario

Smart city projects are quickly evolving in several countries as a feasible solution to the urban organization to provide sustainable socioeconomic growth and solve problems that arise as the populations of these cities grow. In this sense, technology application plays an important role in enabling automation of processes, improving the citizen’s quality of life and reducing the costs of public services for municipalities and enterprises. However, automation initiatives of services such as electricity, water, and gas which materialize by the so-called smart grids, have emerged earlier than smart city projects, and are consolidating in several countries. Although smart grid initiatives have arisen earlier to projects of smart cities it represents a subset of the great scenario of IoT that is the vision in which the smart city projects are based. The time difference from developments between these two initiatives made the alternatives of communication technologies for infrastructures construction of communication followed different paths. However, in view of the great scenery of IoT is desirable to determine technologies that provide convergence of a single urban communication infrastructure capable of supporting all applications, whether they are typically IoT or traditional smart grid applications. This work is a review which presents and discusses the two main technologies which are currently best positioned to play this role of convergence that is RF Mesh and LoRaWAN. The strengths and weaknesses of each one of them are also presented and propose that in actuality LoRaWAN is a promising option to offer the required conditions to take on this convergent position2356957