Performance measurements of CSMA/CA-based wireless sensor networks for industrial applications

The performance of modern wireless communication systems are strictly related to the adopted medium access mechanism. An effective one, based on the carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance technique, is hereinafter investigated. In particular, the performance of a CSMA/CA-based wireless sensor network, designed for industrial monitoring and performing both cyclic polling and acyclic alarm management, are analyzed. Effects of in-channel interference are also studied. The aim of the paper is to gain, from practical experiments, results and guidelines useful for the measurement and optimization of CSMA/CA-based sensor network performance, when employed for industrial monitoring. In such direction, a suitable IEEE 802.15.4 wireless sensors' testbed has been deployed and an high layer protocol for industrial monitoring has been implemented. The results obtained from the experiments carried out are shown.