Sensor Communication Implementation Using Multi-Carrier Reflectometry for Distributed Diagnosis in Complex Wired Networks

International audience; This paper presents the integration of sensor communication using the diagnosis signal of wired networks. In order to cover the entire network, the diagnosis of branched networks requires the use of distributed diagnosis systems. The objective of this paper is to propose a novel technique of ensuring efficient communication between distributed reflectometers (sensors) by using the transmitted part of the Multi-Carrier Time Domain Reflectometry (MCTDR) signal. Our approach provides unambiguous fault location thanks to sensor data sharing and fusion, which improves the accuracy of fault location and the quality of the diagnosis. MCTDR has already been proven as an efficient method for online diagnosis by enabling precise bandwidth control while avoiding interferences. The main novelty of our technique is to inject an MCTDR signal carrying information which is capable of ensuring network diagnosis and reliable communication between several distributed sensors at the same time. This is done by exploiting, simultaneously, both the transmitted part and the reflected part of the MCTDR signal. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is evaluated by a series of simulations and experiments (based on field-programmable gate array (FPGA) implementation) on different types of cables and with different configurations.