Implementating low power

wireless sensor networks:

trade-offs and results

Andreas Hutter
Wireless Communications Section
CSEM Systems Engineering

WISE conference
Palais des congrès d’Arcachon
June 17, 2008

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and its contents shall not be disclosed “ - All rights reserved © WISE Consortium 2005
 Presentation overview

„ Introduction to wireless sensor networks

„ NH-90 air-intake reference scenario

„ Wireless design considerations

„ Implementation results

„ Conclusions

This document is the property of WISE Consortium, no part of it shall be reproduced or transmitted without express prior written authorization of WISE Project Management Committee
and its contents shall not be disclosed “ - All rights reserved © WISE Consortium 2005
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 Introduction to wireless sensor networks

random network
„ autonomous sensing devices
¾ sensors for physical quantities
¾ power-autonomous

„ wireless data transmission

¾ RF data transmission
¾ low-power for autonomy
¾ mostly low data-rate
¾ repeaters if required repeater network
¾ bi-directional communication

„ centralized data harvesting

¾ data harvesting star network
¾ network configuration
¾ sensor node control sensor
¾ powering repeater

data collector
This document is the property of WISE Consortium, no part of it shall be reproduced or transmitted without express prior written authorization of WISE Project Management Committee
and its contents shall not be disclosed “ - All rights reserved © WISE Consortium 2005
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 Presentation overview

„ Introduction to wireless sensor networks

„ NH-90 air-intake reference scenario

„ Wireless design considerations

„ Implementation results

„ Conclusions

This document is the property of WISE Consortium, no part of it shall be reproduced or transmitted without express prior written authorization of WISE Project Management Committee
and its contents shall not be disclosed “ - All rights reserved © WISE Consortium 2005
4
 NH-90 air-intake reference scenario

Air-intake temperature

⇒ Improve rotorcraft performance

⇒ Simplify a/c installation

specifications
number of sensors per engine 2
temperature range (operation) -55 to 70 °C star network
temperature range (non-operational) -55 to 120 °C
required accuracy 0.1 °C
required sampling frequency 100 Hz
maximum link distance 50 cm
maximum tolerated delay 1.5 s

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and its contents shall not be disclosed “ - All rights reserved © WISE Consortium 2005
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 NH-90 air-intake reference scenario

air-intake
measurement points

data collector

sensor electronics

This document is the property of WISE Consortium, no part of it shall be reproduced or transmitted without express prior written authorization of WISE Project Management Committee
and its contents shall not be disclosed “ - All rights reserved © WISE Consortium 2005
6
 Presentation overview

„ Introduction to wireless sensor networks

„ NH-90 air-intake reference scenario

„ Wireless design considerations

„ Implementation results

„ Conclusions

This document is the property of WISE Consortium, no part of it shall be reproduced or transmitted without express prior written authorization of WISE Project Management Committee
and its contents shall not be disclosed “ - All rights reserved © WISE Consortium 2005
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 Wireless design considerations
star network
„ autonomous sensing devices
¾ sensor: PT1000 temperature sensor
¾ powering: vibration generator with max. 10 mW

„ wireless data transmission

¾ RF data transmission: Æ metallic propagation environment
¾ low-power consideration: Æ match to power source
¾ data-rate considerations: Æ determines system choice
¾ repeaters requirements: Æ no repeater required
¾ bi-directional communication: Æ for configuration

„ centralized data harvesting

¾ data harvesting: synchronized data collection
¾ network configuration: not required
¾ sensor node control: need for power wake-up
¾ powering: mains powered

This document is the property of WISE Consortium, no part of it shall be reproduced or transmitted without express prior written authorization of WISE Project Management Committee
and its contents shall not be disclosed “ - All rights reserved © WISE Consortium 2005
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 Wireless design considerations

„ data rate considerations

¾ send data whenever
a new packet is ready

Î max. efficiency of 18 % ALOHA

¾ performance increase through:

™ temporal coordination
™ listen before talk only 180 kbps of your
1 Mbps link are available

Î slotted CSMA/CA
™ used in Ethernet (CSMA/CD), Wireless LAN & PAN

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and its contents shall not be disclosed “ - All rights reserved © WISE Consortium 2005
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 Wireless design considerations

„ power consumption considerations TX RX wasted energy

¾ ideal: receiver knows exactly data

when to wake up concentrator

sensor

need to listen all the time

¾ simple: send data whenever data

concentrator
a new packet is ready sensor

selected option
¾ versatile: regular data

synchronization concentrator
sensor

allows bi-
bi-directional communication, remote control, etc.

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and its contents shall not be disclosed “ - All rights reserved © WISE Consortium 2005
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 Wireless design considerations

„ synchronization considerations

¾ system clocks are running at slightly different speeds

today tomorrow

16:11.65 16:11.63
16:11.65 16:11.65

16:11.65 16:11.67

clock drift

clock drifts can be compensated in a synchronized network

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and its contents shall not be disclosed “ - All rights reserved © WISE Consortium 2005
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 Wireless design considerations

„ additional protocol considerations

¾ Channel selection mechanisms

¾ Logical network creation and management

¾ Reliable data transmission and transaction handling

¾ Data security and network node identification

¾ Quality of service support with respect to delay and data rate

This document is the property of WISE Consortium, no part of it shall be reproduced or transmitted without express prior written authorization of WISE Project Management Committee
and its contents shall not be disclosed “ - All rights reserved © WISE Consortium 2005
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 Wireless design considerations

„ overview wireless systems

wireless frequency band data rates current @

system 3.3V
Wireless LAN
2.4 & 5 GHz < 54 Mbps ~200 mA
(IEEE 802.11)
Bluetooth
2.4 GHz 1 Mbps ~ 50 mA
(IEEE 802.15.1)
ZigBee
2.4 GHz 250 kbps 10 - 25 mA
(IEEE 802.15.4)
433/868/915 MHz
< 1 GHz < 500 kbps 10 – 25 mA
ISM bands

the IEEE 802.15.4 radio technology has been selected

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and its contents shall not be disclosed “ - All rights reserved © WISE Consortium 2005
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 Wireless design considerations

„ IEEE 802.15.4 superframe structure

window for CSMA/CA
based data transactions
guaranteed time-
time-slot
upon request
synchronization
& data indication

inactive period (sleep)

downlink upon request

regular data

data
concentrator TX RX wasted energy
sensor

This document is the property of WISE Consortium, no part of it shall be reproduced or transmitted without express prior written authorization of WISE Project Management Committee
and its contents shall not be disclosed “ - All rights reserved © WISE Consortium 2005
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 Presentation overview

„ Introduction to wireless sensor networks

„ NH-90 air-intake reference scenario

„ Wireless design considerations

„ Implementation results

„ Conclusions

This document is the property of WISE Consortium, no part of it shall be reproduced or transmitted without express prior written authorization of WISE Project Management Committee
and its contents shall not be disclosed “ - All rights reserved © WISE Consortium 2005
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 Implementation results

validation hardware

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and its contents shall not be disclosed “ - All rights reserved © WISE Consortium 2005
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 Implementation results

implemented software options

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and its contents shall not be disclosed “ - All rights reserved © WISE Consortium 2005
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 Implementation results

measurement results – power details

beacon reception

current @ 2.0 V:

TX: 22.0 mA
RX: 20.0 mA
Idle: 1.5 mA
average of 1.627 mA
Sleep: 0.2 mA

data transmission

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and its contents shall not be disclosed “ - All rights reserved © WISE Consortium 2005
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 Implementation results

measurement results – timing details

CSMA/CA and
beacon data transmission
reception

two consecutive
data transmissions

clock drift
compensation

oscillator start-up RX_ON_WHEN_IDLE feature

idle mode (oscillators running)

sleep mode (32 kHz osc. running)

This document is the property of WISE Consortium, no part of it shall be reproduced or transmitted without express prior written authorization of WISE Project Management Committee
and its contents shall not be disclosed “ - All rights reserved © WISE Consortium 2005
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 Presentation overview

„ Introduction to wireless sensor networks

„ NH-90 air-intake reference scenario

„ Wireless design considerations

„ Implementation results

„ Conclusions

This document is the property of WISE Consortium, no part of it shall be reproduced or transmitted without express prior written authorization of WISE Project Management Committee
and its contents shall not be disclosed “ - All rights reserved © WISE Consortium 2005
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 Conclusions

¾ implementation of IEEE 802.15.4 MAC layer

¾ beacon mode
¾ RX_ON_WHEN_IDLE feature
¾ current draw < 1.7 mA @ 2.0 V for communication part
¾ matches power
source with 10 mW
¾ sufficient for small
networks with
several 10 nodes
¾ GTS feature for gua-
ranteed data delivery
up to 7 nodes

This document is the property of WISE Consortium, no part of it shall be reproduced or transmitted without express prior written authorization of WISE Project Management Committee
and its contents shall not be disclosed “ - All rights reserved © WISE Consortium 2005
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