Towards an Optimized Traffic-Aware Routing in Wireless Mesh Networks

International audienceIn this paper we study through simulations the impact of PHY/MAC protocols on higher layers. In a comparative way, we investigate the effectiveness of some protocols when they coexist on a wireless mesh network environment. Results show that PHY/MAC parameters have an important impact on routing performances. Based on these results, we propose two tra c-aware routing metrics based on link availability. The information about the link availability/occupancy is picked up from lower layers using a cross-layer approach. The rst metric is load-sensitive and aims to balance the tra c load according to the availability of a link to support additional ows. The second metric reproduces better the capacity of a link since it is based on its residual bandwidth. Using several real experiments, we have shown that our proposals can accurately determine better paths in terms of throughput and delay. Our experiments are carried out into an heterogeneous IEEE 802.11n based network running with OLSR routing protocol

Wireless industrial monitoring and control networks: the journey so far and the road ahead

While traditional wired communication technologies have played a crucial role in industrial monitoring and control networks over the past few decades, they are increasingly proving to be inadequate to meet the highly dynamic and stringent demands of today’s industrial applications, primarily due to the very rigid nature of wired infrastructures. Wireless technology, however, through its increased pervasiveness, has the potential to revolutionize the industry, not only by mitigating the problems faced by wired solutions, but also by introducing a completely new class of applications. While present day wireless technologies made some preliminary inroads in the monitoring domain, they still have severe limitations especially when real-time, reliable distributed control operations are concerned. This article provides the reader with an overview of existing wireless technologies commonly used in the monitoring and control industry. It highlights the pros and cons of each technology and assesses the degree to which each technology is able to meet the stringent demands of industrial monitoring and control networks. Additionally, it summarizes mechanisms proposed by academia, especially serving critical applications by addressing the real-time and reliability requirements of industrial process automation. The article also describes certain key research problems from the physical layer communication for sensor networks and the wireless networking perspective that have yet to be addressed to allow the successful use of wireless technologies in industrial monitoring and control networks