Aggregated time-critical MAC protocol for factory automation

Communication in industrial applications like wireless factory automation demands high reliability and low latency. Due to the fact that state of the art wireless sensor networks do not entirely fulfill the high requirements, new approaches have to be developed. An ultra-wideband system in combination with a MAC protocol for time-critical applications seems to be a promising approach. This paper introduces an optimized MAC protocol to guarantee the stringent real-time requirements of factory automation. Based on a realistic network scenario and IEEE 802.15.4 impulse-radio ultra-wideband physical layer simulations, both reliability and latency are examined. Moreover, the impact of retransmissions is analyzed. The proposed MAC protocol minimizes the resulting latency meeting entirely the requirements of factory automation.