access icon free System evaluation of a practical IEEE 802.15.4/4e/4g multi-physical and multi-hop smart utility network

This study evaluates the performance of a practical IEEE 802.15.4/4e/4g low-rate (LR) wireless personal area network (WPAN) with multiple physical (PHY) layers and multi-hop capabilities for smart utility networks, machine-to-machine networks and other advanced sensor networks. The proposal includes realistic design considerations addressing demands of practical applications, country-specific regulatory requirements and technical specification in international standards. A cross-layer open system interconnection model from the application, transport, network, medium access control, down to the multiple PHY layers is constructed based on the specification in IEEE 802.15.4 LR-WPAN and other layer-specific standards. Employing the cross-layer model, extensive computer simulations were conducted to investigate the performance of the LR-WPAN system in this application domain. As a result, the authors have successfully verified the simulated achievable average throughput in both PHY layer designs, multi-rate and multi-regional frequency shift keying (MR-FSK) and multi-rate and multi-regional orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MR-OFDM) with the theoretical throughput by calculation. Secondly, in a multi-PHY environment with the presence of 30 interferer devices, throughput degradation of the victim system is observed within 30%. Furthermore, when interferer devices transmit frames with interval beyond 1 s, the degradation to the victim system becomes negligible. Thirdly, MR-FSK PHY has a simpler design with higher energy-efficiency, whereas MR-OFDM PHY is more complicated with more resilience to interference. They have found an interference tolerance capability difference of 15 dB between the MR-FSK and MR-OFDM systems. Fourthly, comparing with their single-hop counterparts, multi-hop systems have lower average throughput in MR-FSK by 25% and MR-OFDM by 10%. Finally, comparing with networks with periodical beacon transmissions, asynchronous networks have more inferior average throughput of 20% in MR-FSK and 3% in MR-OFDM, with the advantage of longer battery lifespan.

Inspec keywords: Zigbee; wireless sensor networks; OFDM modulation; personal area networks

Other keywords: PHY layers; IEEE 802.15.4/4e/4g low-rate; IEEE 802.15.4 LR-WPAN; MR-FSK PHY; physical layers; multirate and multiregional frequency shift keying; machine-to-machine networks; sensor networks; multihop smart utility network; layer-specific standards; IEEE 802.15.4/4e/4g multiphysical network; multi-hop capabilities; multirate orthogonal frequency division multiplexing; periodical beacon transmissions; computer simulations; energy efficiency; wireless personal area network; multiPHY environment; multiregional orthogonal frequency division multiplexing; LR-WPAN system; MR-OFDM systems; medium access control; cross-layer open system interconnection model; interference tolerance capability; asynchronous networks; system evaluation

Subjects: Modulation and coding methods; Wireless sensor networks

References

    1. 1)
    2. 2)
      • 4. Rajagopal, S., Trayer, M., Nguyen, N., Bhat, K.P.: ‘Architecture model choices for a smart grid home network’. IEEE Online Conf. on Green Communications, 2011.
    3. 3)
      • 5. IEEE Std. 802.15.4 – 2011: ‘IEEE Standard for Information Technology – Telecommunications and Information exchange between systems – Local and metropolitan area networks – Specific requirements – Part 15.4: Wireless Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications for Low-Rate Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs)’, June 2011.
    4. 4)
      • 3. Abdul Salam, S., Mahmud, S.A., Khan, G.M., Al-Raweshidy, H.S.: ‘M2M communication in smart grids: implementation scenarios and performance analysis’. IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conf. (WCNC) 2012 Workshop, April 2012.
    5. 5)
    6. 6)
      • 11. Sum, C.-S., Kojima, F., Harada, H.: ‘Performance analysis of a multi-hop IEEE 802.15.4 g OFDM system in multi-PHY layer network’. IEEE Int. Symp. on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC) 2013, London, UK, 8–11 September 2013.
    7. 7)
      • 6. IEEE Std. 802.15.4 g-2012: ‘Part 15.4: Wireless Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications for Low-Rate Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs) – Amendment 4: Physical Layer Specifications for Low Data Rate Wireless Smart Metering Utility Networks’, March 2012.
    8. 8)
      • 7. IEEE Std. 802.15.4e-2012: ‘Part 15.4: Wireless Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications for Low-Rate Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs): Amendment to the MAC sub-layer’, March 2012.
    9. 9)
      • 10. Sum, C.-S., Kojima, F., Harada, H.: ‘Performance analysis of a multi-PHY coexistence mechanism for IEEE 802.15.4 g FSK network’. IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conf. (WCNC) 2013, Shanghai, China, 7–10 April 2013.
    10. 10)
      • 8. Trefke, J., Gonzalez, J.M., Uslar, M.: ‘Smart grid standardization management with use cases’. IEEE Int. Energy Conf. and Exhibition (ENERGYCON) 2012, September 2012, pp. 903908.
    11. 11)
http://iet.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1049/iet-com.2014.0240
Loading

Related content

content/journals/10.1049/iet-com.2014.0240
pub_keyword,iet_inspecKeyword,pub_concept
6
6
Loading