Carleton University - School of Computer Science Honours Project
Winter 2022
Simulating MASTER: A Centralized Router and Scheduler for Low Power Wireless Networks.
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ABSTRACT
MASTER is a routing and scheduling algorithm designed to provide stable, highly reliable, low latency communication for industrial Internet of Things (IoT) environments where interference is present. The algorithm is designed for Time Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH) wireless networks, as defined by the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, and makes use of a centralized design where scheduling and routing is done by a single node with global knowledge of the network. Traditionally such designs are limited to provide high reliability only in networks where interference is limited, however MASTER introduces novel approaches such as sliding windows and flow-based retransmissions to achieve greater reliability in networks congested due to outside interference. The goal of this article is to present the design, implementation, and testing of a software-based tool for simulating this algorithm in arbitrary network layouts and conditions, in order to compare and confirm reliability, latency, and energy usage results against those shown by the algorithms original creators. The tool allows for the recreation of low power wireless networks where network conditions are known through the expected transmission count of the communication links connecting the network participants. It implements a MASTER compliant router and scheduler that allow for modular changes, along with the sliding window and flow-based retransmission strategies presented by the algorithm’s authors. The router and scheduler allow for the creation of flows and schedules for the network to perform that can be simulated to return the reliability, latency, and energy usage of the network with MASTER implemented.