A Finite-State Markov Model for Reliability Evaluation of Industrial Wireless Network
Quan Wang, Ping Wang · 2010
Wireless sensors have started being utilized for industrial application which is typical harsh environment due to complicated layout and plentiful stationary/moving obstacles. As two hot standards for wireless industrial, WiHART and ISA100.11a, both adopt the centralized wireless sensor network with mesh topology to enable the reliable monitoring of a variety of environments. This kind of network gives a chance to evaluate the successful communication probability between two nodes through multi-hop or multi-graph. In order to utilize radios for industrial applications, their channel characteristics and link quality must be investigated for optimal design and reliability assessment. This paper presents a finite-Markov model for reliability prediction of this typical industrial wireless network. This finite Markov model for industrial wireless system could be used as a routing schedule algorithm, and also a good way to insure the reliability of industrial wireless system in the field.