Packet Aggregation-Based Scheduling in 6TiSCH Networks

摘要

Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is a fast-growing technology that combines the IoT platforms with an existing industrial environment. The Time-Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH) is the emerging standard targeting industrial applications such as automation and process control. It combines time synchronization and channel hopping to achieve low-power operation and high reliability. Particularly, the mechanisms defined in IPv6 over the TSCH mode of IEEE 802.15.4e (6TiSCH) specifications are crucial for the further adoption of IoT platforms in industrial environments. However, the standard does not specify or propose the particular timeslot scheduling algorithms necessary for network operation, whose design is left to the researchers. In this paper we provide a brief overview of the 6TiSCH protocol stack with the focus on scheduling process. We propose the packet aggregation in network nodes as a mechanism to improve the communication throughput and reliability for certain applications.