WSN for Machine Area Network applications

Abstract

This paper presents the use of wireless sensor network (WSN) technologies in a newly growing application space in industrial Internet or industry 4.0. This application space focuses on factory automation and field process management that we call Machine Area Network (MAN) applications. We describe key requirements, major technical challenges and how hardware and software can be combined to address these requirements in MAN. A mechanism that allows machine-to-machine (M2M) direct data sharing using a time-synchronous network that utilizes a time-stamping approach is also presented. The paper also discusses scalability of the network and how it crosses the boundaries of media specific characteristics that enables flexible network setup. TI silicon-based Intelligent Industrial Internet sensor node platform is briefly discussed to tackle above technical challenges in MAN industrial applications.