TSCH for Long Range Low Data Rate Applications

Rajeev Piyare,Atis Elsts,George Oikonomou

doi:10.1109/access.2020.3046769

Abstract

The TSCH (Time Slotted Channel Hopping) protocol from the IEEE 802.15.4-2015 standard is known to be suitable for highly reliable applications in low-power networks of severely constrained wireless embedded devices. Most of the research on TSCH has focused on the 2.4 GHz frequency band. The present work extends the TSCH protocol to low data rate applications using the sub-GHz frequency bands for an increased link budget. We introduce multiple improvements on top of the standard TSCH, namely, a special schedule for the network’s root nodes and their direct neighbors, as well as the option to have multiple root nodes in a single TSCH network. Experimental results in a testbed and a real-world deployment show that after applying the improvements, the network meets application requirements and provides reliable and energy-efficient operation.

Highlights

The Time-Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH) (Time Slotted Channel Hopping) protocol from the IEEE 802.15.4-2015 standard [1] is known to be suitable for highly reliable applications in low-power wireless networks of constrained embedded devices
We develop and experimentally evaluate a Contiki-NG TSCH port to the Texas Instruments CC1310 Systemon-Chip operating in a sub-GHz frequency band and we provide a TSCH timing template for this platform;
This paper describes the design and experimental evaluation of the TSCH protocol on a Sub-GHz frequency band using Texas Instruments CC1310 System-on-Chip based sensor nodes

Summary

Introduction

The TSCH (Time Slotted Channel Hopping) protocol from the IEEE 802.15.4-2015 standard [1] is known to be suitable for highly reliable applications in low-power wireless networks of constrained embedded devices. Most of the existing research on TSCH has focused on the crowded 2.4 GHz frequency band [2]–[5]. To make within-grain sensor networks feasible, specific technological solutions must be applied, including the use of multihop networks and sub-GHz communications for better signal penetration. Among other new MAC modes of operation, it introduces the Time-Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH) protocol. TSCH is a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) MAC protocol that combines frequency diversity with scheduled communication. TSCH is designed for industrial low-power wireless network applications that need both high reliability and high energy efficiency. TSCH utilizes pseudo-random channel hopping to combat narrow-band interference and signal fading

Results

Discussion

Conclusion