Experimental investigation of the packet loss rate of wireless industrial networks in real industrial environments

Abstract

In the field of wireless industrial automation networks (WIANs), the WirelessHART and ISA100.11a protocols are promoted, which support time division and carriersensing multiple access schemes, channel hopping schemes, and mesh network topology to improve reliability and scalability. However, they work on the 2.4-GHz non-licensed industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) frequency band. This band has become crowded in industrial applications, i.e., ZigBee, Bluetooth and wireless local area networks (WLAN), which has led to coexistence issues. Here, we investigated experimentally the data link layer packet loss rate ofWirelessHART and ISA100.11a protocols coexisting with IEEE 802.15.4 and IEEE 802.11n-based WLAN interference systems. The experimental testbed comprised WirelessHART, ISA100.11a, ZigBee, and IEEE 802.11n-based WLAN systems. During the test, either the WirelessHART or the ISA100.11a served as the system under test and the other systems were used for wireless interferences. WirelessHART and ISA100.11a field devices were developed to set up WirelessHART and ISA100.11a networks systems. All the systems were distributed in a wide and real industrial environment with metal structures and industrial equipment generating interference. Finally, a series of experiments was performed. The experimental results and analysis provide useful information on coexistence issues for system designers and standard developers of WIANs.