TDMA-Based IEEE 802.15.4 for Low-Latency Deterministic Control Applications

In this paper, we propose a technique for making IEEE 802.15.4 standard suitable for low-latency deterministic networks for wireless control applications where the cyclic update time of sensor’s information is not more than 10 ms. The IEEE 802.15.4 has shown good characteristics for deterministic networks in beacon-enabled mode, but with minimum cyclic update time for personal area network devices not less than 15.36 ms. Moreover, it is unsuitable for hard real-time systems when used in nonbeacon-enabled mode due to the random nature of channel access protocol. The proposed technique employs time-division multiple access (TDMA)-based protocol that works on slightly modified IEEE 802.15.4 in star topology. Each end device in the network transmits its data frame after certain time delay in response to periodic requests from the coordinator. This time delay is optimized for better channel bandwidth utilization and reliable data exchange. While this TDMA-based protocol eliminates the risk of frame collisions to a great extent, medium-access control sublayer modifications reduce the nondeterminism of the network and increase the bandwidth efficiency. A mathematical model is proposed to design and develop a practical communication network with commercial off-the-shelf radios that can predict worst case arrival time of data frames. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the model for the proposed protocol.