Sensor Network based on IEEE 1451.0 and IEEE p1451.2-RS232

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1451 family of standards defines a set of common communication interfaces for connecting smart transducers (sensors or actuators) to microprocessor-based systems, instruments, and networks in a network-independent environment. The IEEE 1451.2 working group is in the process of revising IEEE p1451.2 to work with the IEEE 1451.0-2007 standard. This paper proposes an architecture of sensor network based on the IEEE 1451.0 and IEEE p1451.2 to support the popular interfaces including Recommended Standard 232 (RS232), universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART), serial peripheral interface (SPI), and universal serial bus (USB). It also describes the development and implementation of such a network based on IEEE 1451.0 and p1451.2-RS232. The sensor network consists of a network capable application processor (NCAP) and a transducer interface module (TIM) with an IEEE p1451.2-RS232 interface. The client-server communication protocols between the NCAP and the TIM have been developed based on the IEEE 1451.0-2007 standard and IEEE p1451.2-RS232 interface. Two case studies are presented as implementation examples. The work described provides a good foundation for updating the IEEE 1451.2-1997 standard to be compatible with the IEEE 1451.0 standard.