Dual-Mode Time-Slotted (DMTS) MAC Protocol for Industrial Control Applications

Industrial Wireless Sensor and Actuator Networks (IWSANs) have gained increased attention towards realizing the Industry-4.0. Process automation and factory automation are two of the important applications of the smart industry. In particular, the process control applications impose severe constraints on reliability, scalability, latency, and energy. We address these requirements through Medium Access Control (MAC) layer and propose a Dual-Mode Time-Slotted (DMTS) MAC protocol based on superframe structure using channel hopping targeting industrial process control applications. The protocol takes into account the dynamics of process control system and is adaptive to its varying states such as transient state and steady state and effectively satisfies its traffic requirements. It operates in dual-mode having two superframes, transient and steady. The steady superframe takes care of the high data rate state whereas the transient superframe handles the low data rate state. Thus, enabling service differentiation where resources are available as per the demand of control system. The protocol is evaluated through simulations and the results show that the DMTS-MAC protocol performs better than Time-Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH) MAC protocol.