A survey on network formation and scheduling algorithms for time slotted channel hopping in industrial networks

• Published in: Journal of network and computer applications 2019-01, Vol.126, p.59-87
• Main Authors: Kharb, Seema, Singhrova, Anita
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: advertisement policy; industrial IoT (IIoT); industrial standard IEEE 802.15.4–2015; Link scheduling; Time slotted channel hopping
• ISSN: 1084-8045; 1095-8592
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jnca.2018.11.004

This paper provides an overview of Time Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH) with emphasis on its scheduling algorithms, advertisement policies and issues related to industrial networks, popularly known as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). IIoT consists of systems which include machines connected to computers which can interpret, analyze and have instant decision power on sensor data. Therefore, to enable this smart system, IIoT should work fast with any number of devices, must have predictable behavior, sustainable in harsh environment, secured and robust. IEEE 802.15.4 is the de-facto standard for it but it's MAC unreliability problem makes it unsuitable for these applications. Therefore, IEEE 802.15.4e MAC amendment was introduced in 2012 which specifies various MAC behavior modes for different application domains of process and factory automation. One of these modes is TSCH which guarantees high determinism, high reliability and low power consumption through channel hopping along with bandwidth reservation which permits it to meet the stringent requirements of industrial networks. This paper firstly describes the basic features of TSCH, a systematic mapping of research associated with it. After that survey of identified key areas of TSCH namely, network formation and scheduling algorithms is presented. The family of TSCH link scheduling algorithm is reviewed in light of their general characteristics as well as design objectives and finally, open research issues related to network formation and scheduling algorithms are also investigated to point out future research directions for efficient working of TSCH in an industrial environment.