Este trabalho apresenta um estudo da instrumentalização de software em Redes de Sensores Sem Fio, complementado pela aplicação, em um estudo de caso, de uma instrumentalização. A proposta da instrumentalização visa ampliar o conhecimento sobre essas redes em termos de desempenho, permitindo ao usuário tomar decisões suportadas pelo instrumento. Nesse sentido, foi realizada a abordagem conceitual em termos de Redes de Sensores Sem Fio, da tendência de padronização para essas redes e de instrumentalização por meio de software. Para a comprovação dos benefícios da adoção da utilização do conceito de instrumentalização de software nessas redes, foi desenvolvida uma rede de sensores utilizando esses conceitos, na qual foi possível avaliar o perfil dos aspectos temporais e da manutenção da qualidade da conexão. Os resultados obtidos evidenciam que é possível conhecer, com maiores detalhes, o comportamento da rede, o que melhora a qualidade da tomada de decisão do usuário em relação à sua utilização em aplicações com restrições temporais, nas quais os tempos de resposta envolvidos devem respeitar os limites máximos permitidos. / This thesis aims at the study of software instrumentation handling in terms of wireless sensor networks which is supplemented with the its application in a case study. The instrumentation purposes go towards the networks knowledge extension concerning its performance by allowing the user to make decisions based on software instrument reading. In this sense, a conceptual approach was performed which takes the wireless sensor network into account as well as the trend of standardization for these networks and the software instrumentation itself. In order to confirm the benefits on adopting the usage of software instrumentation concept on these networks, a wireless sensor network was developed using these concepts. In this sense, it was possible to evaluate the timing aspects profile and the link quality maintenance. The results show that is possible to know about the behavior of the network in details. By doing this, the quality of the users decision-making regarding their use in applications with time constraints, in which response time involved should respect the maximum allowable limits, has been improved.

Este trabalho concentra-se no aumento da robustez à taxa de erros em redes de sensores sem fio industriais (RSSFI). Para alcançar tal objetivo, é preciso, de algum modo, contornar os problemas intrínsecos da comunicação sem fio, que são, o ruído ambiental, interferências e desvanecimento por multipercurso. O multipercurso pode ser considerado um dos principais fatores que tornam as comunicações nas redes de sensores sem fio (RSSF) um verdadeiro desafio quando comparadas com outros meios, como a transmissão em fibra óptica, cabo ou mesmo transmissões de rádio ponto-a-ponto. Nesse sentido, propõe-se a diversidade de antenas como uma solução para minimizar os efeitos do multicaminho, com o objetivo de melhorar a confiabilidade do enlace de rádio para permitir o emprego de RSSF densas. O potencial da diversidade de antenas em RSSF não está totalmente explorado em aplicações industriais. Esta dissertação apresenta ainda, a técnica “Combinação de seleção” para RSSFI através de um algoritmo que seleciona a porta do receptor que apresenta o melhor indicador de qualidade de enlace e realiza a comutação das antenas nos módulos de rádio. Os resultados são analisados para dois tipos de enlaces, isto é, com e sem diversidade de antenas na recepção, e discute-se opções para melhorar o PER (“Packet Error Rate”) com as atuais técnicas de diversidade. / This work concentrates on the increase of reliability and robustness in Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSNs), decreasing the Packet Error Rate (PER). To achieve this objective, is need to somehow circumvent and reduce the underlying problems of wireless communication, which are: environmental noise, interference, and multipath fading. The multipath can be seen as the main factor which becomes the communications in the Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) a real challenge when compared to other types of means such as a transmission in fiber, cable or even point-to-point radio transmissions. In this sense, it is proposed antenna diversity as solution to reduce these effects, with the aim to improve the reliability of the radio link to allow the use of dense WSNs. The potential of antenna diversity in WSN is not fully exploited in industrial applications. In this sense, this dissertation presents the "Combination of selection" technique for IWSNs through an internal algorithm that selects the receiver port that has the highest LQI ("Link Quality Indicator") and performs an antenna switching in the radio modules. Also, options to improve PER using diversity techniques are discussed.

Este trabalho apresenta um estudo da instrumentalização de software em Redes de Sensores Sem Fio, complementado pela aplicação, em um estudo de caso, de uma instrumentalização. A proposta da instrumentalização visa ampliar o conhecimento sobre essas redes em termos de desempenho, permitindo ao usuário tomar decisões suportadas pelo instrumento. Nesse sentido, foi realizada a abordagem conceitual em termos de Redes de Sensores Sem Fio, da tendência de padronização para essas redes e de instrumentalização por meio de software. Para a comprovação dos benefícios da adoção da utilização do conceito de instrumentalização de software nessas redes, foi desenvolvida uma rede de sensores utilizando esses conceitos, na qual foi possível avaliar o perfil dos aspectos temporais e da manutenção da qualidade da conexão. Os resultados obtidos evidenciam que é possível conhecer, com maiores detalhes, o comportamento da rede, o que melhora a qualidade da tomada de decisão do usuário em relação à sua utilização em aplicações com restrições temporais, nas quais os tempos de resposta envolvidos devem respeitar os limites máximos permitidos. / This thesis aims at the study of software instrumentation handling in terms of wireless sensor networks which is supplemented with the its application in a case study. The instrumentation purposes go towards the networks knowledge extension concerning its performance by allowing the user to make decisions based on software instrument reading. In this sense, a conceptual approach was performed which takes the wireless sensor network into account as well as the trend of standardization for these networks and the software instrumentation itself. In order to confirm the benefits on adopting the usage of software instrumentation concept on these networks, a wireless sensor network was developed using these concepts. In this sense, it was possible to evaluate the timing aspects profile and the link quality maintenance. The results show that is possible to know about the behavior of the network in details. By doing this, the quality of the users decision-making regarding their use in applications with time constraints, in which response time involved should respect the maximum allowable limits, has been improved.

Home networks are evolving vigorously and are also becoming more and more heterogeneous and complex. Home networks contain new services and numerous devices with wired and wireless links. At the same time, users demand high levels of quality of service for many new applications. Hence, the supervision of links quality tends to be mandatory in emergent home networks, to trigger QoS mechanisms. In this context, this dissertation proposes the utilization of the available bandwidth as a performance indicator in hybrid home networks (e.g. for remote service-evaluation, diagnosis and fault detection) and as link-state metric for a number of QoS mechanisms (e.g., admission control, path selection and load balancing). In this dissertation, we firstly explain why available bandwidth probing is a fundamental tool in the new QoS architectures for hybrid home networks and we explore different use cases. We investigate the networking constraints that affect bandwidth probing in hybrid home networks. We explain why most tools to measure available bandwidth on Internet paths are not very efficient on home networks. We make a taxonomic study of a number of state-of-the-art probing techniques and probing tools for available bandwidth. At that aim, we propose a functional framework, called Metrics Profile Capture Filter and Feedback (MPCFF). Based on these studies, we choose Iperf in TCP mode as an attractive tool to estimate available bandwidth. Then, we conduct a performance evaluation on an experimental test bed, to compare Iperf in lightweight TCP-mode vs. various state-of-the-art tools (Wbest, Pathchirp, Pathload and IGI/PTR). We show that Iperf in lightweight TCP mode is superior in terms of accuracy and speed of convergence. Finally, we integrate Iperf in lightweight TCP mode into a path selection protocol using the Inter-MAC software (developed in the Omega European project). We show, on a test bed, how Iperf in lightweight TCP mode enhances the Inter-MAC path selection by eliminating performance deterioration due to time-varying capacity links. Our results show that Iperf in lightweight TCP mode, accurately, triggers path selection and load balancing mechanisms, to adapt the network resources to the strong degradation of WiFi and PLC links. Available bandwidth probing detects and helps to control real-time deviations of the quality of experience, associated of sensitive applications. At the same time, available-bandwidth probing helps the service provider to isolate failures and to monitor the end-to-end residential service, on demand or on long-term periodicity basis.

Este trabalho concentra-se no aumento da robustez à taxa de erros em redes de sensores sem fio industriais (RSSFI). Para alcançar tal objetivo, é preciso, de algum modo, contornar os problemas intrínsecos da comunicação sem fio, que são, o ruído ambiental, interferências e desvanecimento por multipercurso. O multipercurso pode ser considerado um dos principais fatores que tornam as comunicações nas redes de sensores sem fio (RSSF) um verdadeiro desafio quando comparadas com outros meios, como a transmissão em fibra óptica, cabo ou mesmo transmissões de rádio ponto-a-ponto. Nesse sentido, propõe-se a diversidade de antenas como uma solução para minimizar os efeitos do multicaminho, com o objetivo de melhorar a confiabilidade do enlace de rádio para permitir o emprego de RSSF densas. O potencial da diversidade de antenas em RSSF não está totalmente explorado em aplicações industriais. Esta dissertação apresenta ainda, a técnica “Combinação de seleção” para RSSFI através de um algoritmo que seleciona a porta do receptor que apresenta o melhor indicador de qualidade de enlace e realiza a comutação das antenas nos módulos de rádio. Os resultados são analisados para dois tipos de enlaces, isto é, com e sem diversidade de antenas na recepção, e discute-se opções para melhorar o PER (“Packet Error Rate”) com as atuais técnicas de diversidade. / This work concentrates on the increase of reliability and robustness in Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSNs), decreasing the Packet Error Rate (PER). To achieve this objective, is need to somehow circumvent and reduce the underlying problems of wireless communication, which are: environmental noise, interference, and multipath fading. The multipath can be seen as the main factor which becomes the communications in the Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) a real challenge when compared to other types of means such as a transmission in fiber, cable or even point-to-point radio transmissions. In this sense, it is proposed antenna diversity as solution to reduce these effects, with the aim to improve the reliability of the radio link to allow the use of dense WSNs. The potential of antenna diversity in WSN is not fully exploited in industrial applications. In this sense, this dissertation presents the "Combination of selection" technique for IWSNs through an internal algorithm that selects the receiver port that has the highest LQI ("Link Quality Indicator") and performs an antenna switching in the radio modules. Also, options to improve PER using diversity techniques are discussed.

近年來興起一個前瞻性無線技術，稱之為無線網狀網路（Wireless Mesh Networks），WMNs 以所費低廉方式提供無線網路最後一哩存取Internet，同時具備ad hoc 網路全部優點，例如自我組織（self-organization）、自我組態（self-configuration）等。儘管WMNs 骨幹部分與平面式ad hoc 網路相似，多網卡（multi-radio）的Mesh Routers 節點卻是固定不動且沒有電力限制。有鑑於此，設計於ad hoc 網路上之路由協定並不適合於WMNs。 WCETT（Weighted Cumulated Expected Transmission Time）metric 考量到intra-flow 干擾，卻未捕捉到inter-flow 干擾；而LBAR（Load-Balanced Ad hoc Routing）協定以計算節點之活躍值（nodal activity）與訊務流量干擾選擇路徑，並無支援多網卡路由，LBAR 可以在單一網卡環境表現良好，在多網卡環境卻不一定。因此，我們提出一個WMNs 上考量到Intra/Inter-flow干擾之多網卡路由協定，稱為MiRii。模擬結果顯示出我們路由協定可以改善網路效能，包含了封包成功傳送率及平均點對點延遲。 / A new promising wireless technology has emerged recently, called wireless mesh networks (WMNs). WMNs are inexpensive way to provide wireless last-mile broadband Internet access and have all the advantages of ad hoc network, such as self-organization, self-configuration. Although WMNs backbone is similar to flat ad hoc network, mesh routers with multi-radio are stationary and have no power constraints. As a result, routing protocols designed for ad hoc network may not be appropriate for WMNs. The WCETT (Weighted Cumulated Expected Transmission Time) metric takes intra-flow interference into consideration, but does not capture inter-flow interference. LBAR (Load-Balanced Ad hoc Routing) calculates nodal activity and traffic interference for choosing a path, but does not supporting multi-radio. LBAR may be perform well in single-radio environment, but do not perform as well in multi-radios. Consequently, we incorporate a new Multi-Interface Routing with Intra/Inter-flow Interference in Wireless Mesh Networks, called MiRii. The simulations show that our routing protocol can improve the network performance including the Packet Delivery Ratio and average end-to-end delay.

This thesis aims at proposing all the possible enhancements for the Multi-Resolution Frequency-Domain ParFlow (MR-FDPF) model. As a deterministic radio propagation model, the MR-FDPF model possesses the property of a high level of accuracy, but it also suffers from some common limitations of deterministic models. For instance, realistic radio channels are not deterministic but a kind of random processes due to, e.g. moving people or moving objects, thus they can not be completely described by a purely deterministic model. In this thesis, a semi-deterministic model is proposed based on the deterministic MR-FDPF model which introduces a stochastic part to take into account the randomness of realistic radio channels. The deterministic part of the semi-deterministic model is the mean path loss, and the stochastic part comes from the shadow fading and the small scale fading. Besides, many radio propagation simulators provide only the mean power predictions. However, only mean power is not enough to fully describe the behavior of radio channels. It has been shown that fading has also an important impact on the radio system performance. Thus, a fine radio propagation simulator should also be able to provide the fading information, and then an accurate Bit Error Rate (BER) prediction can be achieved. In this thesis, the fading information is extracted based on the MR-FDPF model and then a realistic BER is predicted. Finally, the realistic prediction of the BER allows the implementation of the adaptive modulation scheme. This has been done in the thesis for three systems, the Single-Input Single-Output (SISO) systems, the Maximum Ratio Combining (MRC) diversity systems and the wideband Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems.

Submitted by Emanuel Varela Cardoso (emanuel.varela@ufcg.edu.br) on 2018-08-24T20:51:57Z No. of bitstreams: 1 RUAN DELGADO GOMES – TESE (PPGEEI) 2017.pdf: 20190080 bytes, checksum: c170f5c01c9d6fd739d197414aee12e7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-24T20:51:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 RUAN DELGADO GOMES – TESE (PPGEEI) 2017.pdf: 20190080 bytes, checksum: c170f5c01c9d6fd739d197414aee12e7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-06-14 / O uso de Redes de Sensores sem Fio Industriais (RSSFIs) para implementar aplicações de monitoramento ou controle apresenta vantagens em comparação ao uso de redes cabeadas, como a maior flexibilidade e o menor custo de implantação. No entanto, é necessário lidar com problemas típicos das redes sem fio, como interferência e o alto nível de atenuação em pequena e larga escala. Além disso, as características do canal sem fio variam com o tempo e uma RSSFI deve ser capaz de se adaptar a essas variações para manter boa qualidade de serviço durante sua operação. Estratégias adaptativas, como a alocação dinâmica de canais, permitem lidar com os problemas mencionados. Para isso, o primeiro passo é estimar a qualidade dos enlaces, de modo que os nós da rede possam decidir se uma mudança de canal é necessária. Esta tese apresenta como contribuição um novo estimador de qualidade de enlace (LQE) e um novo tipo de nó, o nó LQE, que estima a qualidade dos enlaces em tempo real, usando informações obtidas a partir do transceptor, e informações extraídas de pacotes de dados recebidos. O estimador proposto considera problemas causados pelo perfil de multipercurso do ambiente na qualidade do canal,interferência e assimetria. Um protótipo foi desenvolvido e a solução foi validada por meio de experimentos em um ambiente industrial real. Diferente de outros LQEs encontrados na literatura, a solução proposta não gera tráfego extra na rede e não causa sobrecarga nos nós finais. Com base no LQE proposto, um novo protocolo de acesso ao meio foi desenvolvido. O protocolo usa adaptação de canal para a transmissão de pacotes de dados e salto em frequência para a transmissão de pacotes em broadcast. A taxa de recepção de pacote média na camada de aplicação permaneceu perto do pico para todos os cenários avaliados com o protocolo proposto, mesmo considerando as variações na qualidade dos canais ao longo do tempo. Os resultados indicam que o protocolo proposto apresenta desempenho superior aos protocolos de acesso ao meio definidos pelos padrões para RSSFI, em termos de confiabilidade e determinismo. Vários resultados experimentais obtidos em ambientes industriais também são descritos e é proposto um novo modelo para simulação de protocolos multicanais. O modelo é capaz de capturar os efeitos de atenuação por multipercurso, sombreamento, assimetria, as características não estacionárias do canal sem fio e a descorrelação entre diferentes canais. / Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSNs), that is used to implement monitoring and control applications, presents certain advantages when compared to wired networks, including higher flexibility and lower deployment costs. However, it is necessary to deal with typical problems of wireless networks, such as interference and a high attenuation, in small and large scale. In addition, the characteristics of the wireless channel may change over time, and an IWSN needs to self adapt to these variations to maintain a good quality of service during its operation. Adaptive mechanisms, such as, dynamic channel allocation, are used to deal with the aforementioned problems. For this, the first step is to estimate the link quality, so that the network nodes can decide if a channel change is needed. This thesis presents as a contribution a novel Link Quality Estimator (LQE), and a new type of node, the LQE node, that estimates the quality of the links in real-time, using information obtained from the transceiver, and information obtained from received data packets. The proposed LQE deals with the problems caused by the multipath profile of the environment in channel quality, interference and asymmetry. A prototype was developed and the LQE was validated by experiments in an actual industrial environment. Different from other LQEs in the literature, the solution proposed in this thesis does not cause overhead at the end-nodes and on the network. Based on the proposed LQE, a novel MAC protocol was developed. The protocol uses channel adaptation for the transmission of unicast data packets, and frequency hopping for the transmission of broadcast packets. The packet reception rate at the application layer was at the peak for all scenarios that were evaluated using the proposed protocol, even considering the variations in channel quality over time. The results indicate that the proposed protocol presents a better performance in comparison to the MAC protocols defined by the standards for IWSN, in terms of reliability and determinism. Several experimental results obtained in industrial environments are also described, and a new model for simulation of multi-channel protocols is proposed. The model includes the effects of multipath fading, shadowing, asymmetry, the non-stationary characteristics of the channel, and the uncorrelation of the different channels.

L'objectif de la thèse est d'étudier la variation temporelle de la qualité des liens dans les réseaux de capteurs sans fil à grande échelle, de concevoir des estimateurs permettant la différenciation, à court terme et long terme, entre liens de qualité hétérogène. Tout d'abord, nous étudions les caractéristiques de deux paramètres de la couche physique: RSSI (l'indicateur de puissance du signal reçu) et LQI (l'indicateur de la qualité de liaison) sur SensLab, une plateforme expérimentale de réseau de capteurs à grande échelle situé à l'intérieur de bâtiments. Nous observons que le RSSI et le LQI permettent de discriminer des liens de différentes qualités. Ensuite, pour obtenir un estimateur de PRR, nous avons approximé le diagramme de dispersion de la moyenne et de l'écart-type du LQI et RSSI par une fonction Fermi-Dirac. La fonction nous permet de trouver le PRR à partir d'un niveau donné de LQI. Nous avons évalué l'estimateur en calculant le PRR sur des fenêtres de tailles variables et en le comparant aux valeurs obtenues avec l'estimateur. Par ailleurs, nous montrons en utilisant le modèle de Gilbert-Elliot (chaîne de Markov à deux états) que la corrélation des pertes de paquets dépend de la catégorie de lien. Le modèle permet de distinguer avec précision les différentes qualités des liens, en se basant sur les probabilités de transition dérivées de la moyenne et de l'écart-type du LQI. Enfin, nous proposons un modèle de routage basé sur la qualité de lien déduite de la fonction de Fermi-Dirac approximant le PRR et du modèle Markov Gilbert-Elliot à deux états. Notre modèle est capable de distinguer avec précision les différentes catégories de liens ainsi que les liens fortement variables. / The goal of the thesis is to investigate the issues related to the temporal link quality variation in large scale WSN environments, to design energy efficient link quality estimators able to distinguish among links with different quality on a short and a long term. First, we investigate the characteristics of two physical layer metrics: RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication) and LQI (Link Quality Indication) on SensLAB, an indoor large scale wireless sensor network testbed. We observe that RSSI and LQI have distinct values that can discriminate the quality of links. Second, to obtain an estimator of PRR, we have fitted a Fermi-Dirac function to the scatter diagram of the average and standard variation of LQI and RSSI. The function enables us to find PRR for a given level of LQI. We evaluate the estimator by computing PRR over a varying size window of transmissions and comparing with the estimator. Furthermore, we show using the Gilbert-Elliot two-state Markov model that the correlation of packet losses and successful receptions depend on the link category. The model allows to accurately distinguish among strongly varying intermediate links based on transition probabilities derived from the average and the standard variation of LQI. Finally, we propose a link quality routing model driven from the F-D fitting functions and the Markov model able to discriminate accurately link categories as well as high variable links.

Cette thèse a pour but de proposer toutes les avancées possibles dans l’utilisation du modèle de propagation Multi-Resolution Frequency-Domain ParFlow (MR-FDPF). Etant un modèle de propagation radio déterministe, le modèle MR-FDPF possède un haut niveau de précision, mais souffre des limitations communes à tous les modèles déterministes. Par exemple, un canal radio réel n’est pas déterministe, mais un processus aléatoire à cause par exemple des personnes ou objets mobiles, et ne peut donc être décrit fidèlement par un modèle purement déterministe. Dans cette thèse, un modèle semi-déterministe est proposé, basé sur le modèle MR-FDPF, qui introduit une part stochastique pour tenir compte des aspects aléatoires du canal radio réaliste. La partie déterministe du modèle est composée du path loss (atténuation d’espace), et la partie stochastique venant du shadow fading (masquage) et du small scale fading (évanouissement). De même, de nombreux simulateurs de propagation radio ne proposent que la prédiction de la puissance moyenne. Mais pour une simulation précise de la propagation radio il convient de prédire également des informations de fading permettant dès lors une prédiction précise du taux d’erreur binaire (BER) potentiel. Dans cette thèse, l’information de fading est déduite des simulations MR-FDPF et par la suite des valeurs réalistes de BER sont données. Enfin, ces données réalistes de BER permettent d’évaluer l’impact de schémas de modulation adaptatifs. Des résultats sont présentés dans trois configurations : systèmes SISO (mono-antenne à l’émission et à la réception), systèmes à diversité de type MRC, et systèmes large bande de type OFDM. / This thesis aims at proposing all the possible enhancements for the Multi-Resolution Frequency-Domain ParFlow (MR-FDPF) model. As a deterministic radio propagation model, the MR-FDPF model possesses the property of a high level of accuracy, but it also suffers from some common limitations of deterministic models. For instance, realistic radio channels are not deterministic but a kind of random processes due to, e.g. moving people or moving objects, thus they can not be completely described by a purely deterministic model. In this thesis, a semi-deterministic model is proposed based on the deterministic MR-FDPF model which introduces a stochastic part to take into account the randomness of realistic radio channels. The deterministic part of the semi-deterministic model is the mean path loss, and the stochastic part comes from the shadow fading and the small scale fading. Besides, many radio propagation simulators provide only the mean power predictions. However, only mean power is not enough to fully describe the behavior of radio channels. It has been shown that fading has also an important impact on the radio system performance. Thus, a fine radio propagation simulator should also be able to provide the fading information, and then an accurate Bit Error Rate (BER) prediction can be achieved. In this thesis, the fading information is extracted based on the MR-FDPF model and then a realistic BER is predicted. Finally, the realistic prediction of the BER allows the implementation of the adaptive modulation scheme. This has been done in the thesis for three systems, the Single-Input Single-Output (SISO) systems, the Maximum Ratio Combining (MRC) diversity systems and the wideband Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems.