Transmission Error Avoidance for IEEE 802.15.4 Wireless Sensors on Rotating Structures

Wireless sensors are increasingly adopted in manufacturing and vehicular systems for monitoring critical components under continuous operation. Many such components move rapidly and frequently in metallic containments with challenging radio propagation characteristics. For wireless sensors mounted on rotating structures, previous studies identified an eminent increase in packet transmission errors at higher rotation speeds. Such errors were found to occur at specific locations around the rotating spindle\´s periphery and such locations depended sensitively on sensor location and surrounding geometry. This paper studies a transmission error avoidance approach based on on-line error pattern inference and packet transmission time control for IEEE 802.15.4 compatible sensor radios to enhance the achievable data throughput. The method does not rely on sensor positioning support; instead, it infers the temporal error distribution using its local clock and avoids transmission in identified "error regions". Simulation studies showed a 50% reduction of errors and throughput increase up to 75%. Evaluated with different packet sizes and error distributions, the throughput gain was found to be most significant for higher rate and larger size transmissions.