Use of New Generation WPANs for Real-Time Industrial Communications

The new generation of Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs) has reached performance levels that allow their use also at the field level of industrial communication systems where, typically, very tight timing constraints exist. Indeed, they are particularly suitable to implement wireless extensions of wired fieldbuses, since they provide short range connectivity at high transmission speeds. In this paper we investigate the feasibility of such a type of hybrid networks using two new generation WPANs, namely, IEEE802.15.3 and Bluetooth v2.0. In detail, we describe an application layer protocol to be implemented on both types of stations (wired and wireless). Also, we detail the mapping of the protocol services onto the data link layers of WPANs. Finally, we present the results of a theoretical analysis carried out on the wireless segment, in order to evaluate the network performance. Such analysis confirms the sustainability of the proposed solution.