Transmission error analysis and 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 experimental studies observed 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 analyses the expected packet error rates with different rotation speeds and error region distributions, and proposes a transmission error avoidance approach based on online error pattern inference and transmission time control for IEEE 802.15.4 compatible sensor radios. Simulation studies showed a 50% error reduction and up to 75% throughput increase; higher throughput gains are expected for applications with more frequent and larger size data transmissions.