Applying Time Diversity for Improved Reliability in a Real-Time Wireless MAC Protocol

• Supporting real-time applications over wireless networks is challenging for several reasons. However, the inherent advantages due to wireless access like reduced wiring or the possibility to transmit between moving components are still desirable in many application domains. In particular, wireless support to applications with traffic having diverse time and safety requirements is desirable. The medium access control (MAC) layer plays a key role in enabling real-time guarantees, since it provides access to the transmission medium. Unfortunately, even if timely access is guaranteed, transmissions can still be compromised due to the unreliable wireless medium. A common way to increase the reliability of a communication system is to apply redundancy in the form of time diversity, i.e., transmitting several copies of the same message at different points in time. In this paper we propose a wireless MAC method in where transmissions and retransmissions are tailored to deadlines, so that the reliability of the communication system is increased and real-time guarantees can be provided. The proposal enables coexistence of three different traffic classes: time-triggered, rate-constrained and best-effort. Further, we have analysed the effect of different protocol configurations subject to interference with different duration, frequency, and level of persistence. The results show that different protocol settings can be successfully applied to combat different kinds of interference to improve transmission reliability and timeliness.

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Elektroteknik och elektronik -- Datorsystem (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering -- Computer Systems (hsv//eng)

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