access icon free Comparative evaluation of six wireless sensor devices in a high ionizing radiation environment

© The Institution of Engineering and Technology
Received 13/03/2020, Accepted 15/07/2020, Revised 13/07/2020, Published 15/07/2020

This paper reports the results of experimental studies of six different wireless sensor nodes and networks under a radiation environment with a dose rate of 20 K Rad (Si)/h. The wireless nodes evaluated are ZigBee, WirelessHART, ISA 100.11a, LoRa, and 433/915 MHz point-to-point devices made from commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components. The experiments were carried out using a 60Co gamma source, while the devices are at on-power operating states, and their operating statuses have been continuously monitored to determine the first instance of failure and the rate of gradual degradation in terms of communication channel performance and quality of the wireless signals. Observations indicate that the different devices and networks exhibit varying levels of radiation tolerance. For example, some can only survive for less than one hour, but others are operating satisfactorily for several hours. Furthermore, before a device suffers a fatal hardware failure, the performance degradation progresses slowly. It is believed that this is the first time that such results are reported in the open literature. Their significance is that the results can provide some practical guidance to select the most suitable wireless devices for the design and construction of remote monitoring systems for high-level radiation environments.

Inspec keywords: telecommunication network reliability; signal processing; Zigbee; remote sensing; gamma-ray effects; cobalt; wireless sensor networks

Other keywords: performance degradation; wireless sensor devices; wireless sensor nodes; high-level radiation environments; 60Co gamma source; communication channel performance; commercial off-the-shelf components; frequency 433 MHz; wireless signals; gradual degradation; ZigBee; frequency 915.0 MHz; fatal radiation-induced hardware failure; 60Co; high ionizing radiation environment; WirelessHART; radiation tolerance; remote monitoring systems; on-power operating states; ISA 100.11a

Subjects: Signal processing and conditioning equipment and techniques; Wireless sensor networks; Point-to-point radio systems; Sensing devices and transducers; Reliability

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