Interleaving-based orphan channel Scanning for the IEEE 802.15.4m in TVWS smart grid networks

IEEE 802.15.4m utilizing TVWS Multichannel Cluster Tree PAN (TMCTP) technology provides cost-effective and spectrum-efficient communication in a last-mile smart grid network. However, the performance of the IEEE 802.15.4m protocol can be constrained, because each device scans several hundred channels to obtain a beacon message from the Personal Area Network (PAN) coordinator. To address this problem, we propose a Channel Interleaving-based orphan channel Scanning and Topology Construction (CITC) algorithm. In a proposed algorithm, a Super PAN coordinator selects multiple beaconing channels utilizing geolocation database information. In addition, devices that are not associated with any coordinator scan only a limited number of sub-channels, which are selected utilizing an energy correlation function. Also, unassociated device can select a PAN coordinator using beacon messages received from neighbor PAN coordinators, to establish a stable network topology. Simulation results based on ns-3 demonstrate that the enhanced 802.15.4m with the proposed scheme outperforms the original standard protocol in terms of topology construction delay, channel scanning time, and transmission reliability.