Experimental test of power saving strategies in a networked based control over a wireless platform

This work describes an experimental wireless network that has been developed for the test of control algorithms. The platform has three nodes: the controller, the sensor and the actuator one. Each node uses a microcontroller where the different control algorithms can be implemented. The communication is based on a low rate wireless personal area network (IEEE 802.15.4), and several strategies for saving batteries, and to overcome the low data rate or the low power transmission have been tested. In order to enlarge battery life of wireless sensors, two different sending policies have been explored on the sensor node: decreasing the power of the wireless transmission, and using an event-based sampling strategy. The experimental platform that has been developed is described in detail, and the experimental results while testing different control strategies are shown.