Wireless networks in machine failure monitoring: a comparison between IEEE 802.11 and IEEE 802.15.4 with low node density

Abstract

The use of wireless networks in industrial environments is becoming more and more a reality. The main reasons are the low cost of implementation and maintenance, as opposed to wired networks. Within the myriad of applications in the industry, \textbf{machine monitoring} is particularly important as it allows to predict or detect the occurrence of failures, mitigating costs due to a sequence of disruptive events. Especially in legacy systems, wireless sensors may require batteries to enable long network survival. The IEEE802.11 standard, due to its popularity, has been used in machine monitoring, albeit its high energy consumption. One of the alternatives is the unslotted IEEE802.15.4 technology and the deterministic variant DSME, which, despite low transmission rates, have a very low energy consumption profile. This work aims to evaluate a one-hop, low-density star topology scenario, comparing these technologies in terms of received packet ratio and residual energy. The evaluation is by simulation and confirms the high IEEE802.11 consumption, however it shows that the advantages of the DSME are not so evident and can be improved if exploited in its multi-frequency characteristics.