A-Stack : a TDMA framework for reliable, real-time and high data-rate wireless sensor networks

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Volume Title
School of Electrical Engineering | D4 Julkaistu kehittämis- tai tutkimusraportti tai -selvitys
Date
2012
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Language
en
Pages
64
Series
Aalto University publication series SCIENCE+TECHNOLOGY, 2/2012
Abstract
The reduced size, power consumption and cost of wireless sensors make them an excitingtechnology for many monitoring and control applications. However, developing reliable, realtimeand high data-rate applications is challenging due to time-variations and interference inwireless channels and the medium access delays. For high data-rate and real-time applications,time division multiple access (TDMA) based medium access approach performs better ascompared to carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) based approach. On the other hand,implementation of TDMA in resource constrained wireless nodes requires difficult designdecisions. This document presents A-Stack, a real-time protocol stack for time synchronized, multichanneland slotted communication in multi-hop wireless networks. The stack is developed tomeet the reliability and accuracy requirements of real-time applications such as wirelessautomation and wireless structural health monitoring. A-Stack provides a flexible developmentenvironment for such applications by ensuring deterministic reliability and latency. It includesMAC, routing and time-synchronization protocols as well as a node-joining algorithm. Thestack is further supplemented with PC tools for optimizing the network as per the targetapplication for easy prototyping. This document explains the design and operational aspects ofA-Stack. Various deployment scenarios as well as long term system and communicationreliability tests are presented in the document.
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Keywords
wireless sensor networks, real-time, protocol stack, time-synchronization, TDMA, SHM
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