A Finite-State Markov Model for Reliability Evaluation of Industrial Wireless Network

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.