Broadcast routing has become an important research field for vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) recently. However, the packet delivery rate is generally low in existing VANET broadcast routing protocols. Therefore, the design of an appropriate broadc
ast protocol based on the features of VANET has become a crucial part of the development of VANET. This paper analyzes the disadvantage of existing broadcast routing protocols in VANETs, and proposes an improved algorithm (namely ODAM-C) based on the ODAM (Optimized Dissemination of Alarm Messages) protocol. The ODAM-C algorithm improves the packet delivery rate by two mechanisms based on the forwarding features of ODAM. The first distance-based mechanism reduces the possibility of packet loss by considering the angles between source nodes, forwarding nodes and receiving nodes. The second mechanism increases the redundancy of forwarding nodes to guarantee the packet success delivery ratio. We show by analysis and simulations that the proposed algorithm can improve packet delivery rate for vehicular networks compared against two widely-used existing protocols.
IEEE 802.15.4 supports a Guaranteed Time Slot (GTS) allocation mechanism for time-critical and delay-sensitive data transmissions in Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs). However, the inflexible first-come-first-served GTS allocation policy and th
e passive deallocation mechanism significantly reduce network efficiency. In this paper, we propose an Adaptive and Real-Time GTS Allocation Scheme (ART-GAS) to provide differentiated services for devices with different priorities, which guarantees data transmissions for time-sensitive and high-traffic devices. The bandwidth utilization in IEEE 802.15.4-based PAN is improved. Simulation results show that our ART-GAS algorithm significantly outperforms the existing GTS mechanism specified in IEEE 802.15.4.
Even though channel assignment has been studied for years, the performance of most IEEE 802.11-based multi-hop wireless networks such as wireless sensor network (WSN), wireless mesh network (WMN), mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is limited by channel i
nterference. Properly assigning orthogonal channels to wireless links can improve the throughput of multi-hop networks. To solve the dynamic channel assignment problem, a routing-based channel assignment algorithm called R-CA is proposed. R-CA can allocate channels for wireless nodes when needed and free channels after data transmission. Thus more channel resource can be explored by wireless nodes. Simulation results show that R-CA can effectively enhance the network throughput and packet delivery rate.
The proliferation of wireless localization technologies provides a promising future for serving human beings in indoor scenarios. Their applications include real-time tracking, activity recognition, health care, navigation, emergence detection, and t
arget-of-interest monitoring, among others. Additionally, indoor localization technologies address the inefficiency of GPS (Global Positioning System) inside buildings. Since people spend most of their time in indoor environments, indoor tracking service is in great public demand. Based on this observation, this paper aims to provide a better understanding of state-of-the-art technologies and stimulate new research efforts in this field. For these purposes, existing localization technologies that can be used for tracking individuals in indoor environments are reviewed, along with some further discussions.
The goal of this work is to minimize the energy dissipation of embedded controllers without jeopardizing the quality of control (QoC). Taking advantage of the dynamic voltage scaling (DVS) technology, this paper develops a performance-aware power man
agement scheme for embedded controllers with processors that allow multiple voltage levels. The periods of control tasks are adapted online with respect to the current QoC, thus facilitating additional energy reduction over standard DVS. To avoid the waste of CPU resources as a result of the discrete voltage levels, a resource reclaiming mechanism is employed to maximize the CPU utilization and also to improve the QoC. Simulations are conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed scheme. Compared with the optimal standard DVS scheme, the proposed scheme is shown to be able to save remarkably more energy while maintaining comparable QoC.
There is a trend towards using wireless technologies in networked control systems. However, the adverse properties of the radio channels make it difficult to design and implement control systems in wireless environments. To attack the uncertainty in
available communication resources in wireless control systems closed over WLAN, a cross-layer adaptive feedback scheduling (CLAFS) scheme is developed, which takes advantage of the co-design of control and wireless communications. By exploiting cross-layer design, CLAFS adjusts the sampling periods of control systems at the application layer based on information about deadline miss ratio and transmission rate from the physical layer. Within the framework of feedback scheduling, the control performance is maximized through controlling the deadline miss ratio. Key design parameters of the feedback scheduler are adapted to dynamic changes in the channel condition. An event-driven invocation mechanism for the feedback scheduler is also developed. Simulation results show that the proposed approach is efficient in dealing with channel capacity variations and noise interference, thus providing an enabling technology for control over WLAN.
Embedded systems are playing an increasingly important role in control engineering. Despite their popularity, embedded systems are generally subject to resource constraints and it is therefore difficult to build complex control systems on embedded pl
atforms. Traditionally, the design and implementation of control systems are often separated, which causes the development of embedded control systems to be highly time-consuming and costly. To address these problems, this paper presents a low-cost, reusable, reconfigurable platform that enables integrated design and implementation of embedded control systems. To minimize the cost, free and open source software packages such as Linux and Scilab are used. Scilab is ported to the embedded ARM-Linux system. The drivers for interfacing Scilab with several communication protocols including serial, Ethernet, and Modbus are developed. Experiments are conducted to test the developed embedded platform. The use of Scilab enables implementation of complex control algorithms on embedded platforms. With the developed platform, it is possible to perform all phases of the development cycle of embedded control systems in a unified environment, thus facilitating the reduction of development time and cost.
Dynamic voltage scaling (DVS) is one of the most effective techniques for reducing energy consumption in embedded and real-time systems. However, traditional DVS algorithms have inherent limitations on their capability in energy saving since they rar
ely take into account the actual application requirements and often exploit fixed timing constraints of real-time tasks. Taking advantage of application adaptation, an enhanced energy-aware feedback scheduling (EEAFS) scheme is proposed, which integrates feedback scheduling with DVS. To achieve further reduction in energy consumption over pure DVS while not jeopardizing the quality of control, the sampling period of each control loop is adapted to its actual control performance, thus exploring flexible timing constraints on control tasks. Extensive simulation results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of EEAFS under different scenarios. Compared with the optimal pure DVS scheme, EEAFS saves much more energy while yielding comparable control performance.
Wireless sensor/actuator networks (WSANs) are emerging as a new generation of sensor networks. Serving as the backbone of control applications, WSANs will enable an unprecedented degree of distributed and mobile control. However, the unreliability of
wireless communications and the real-time requirements of control applications raise great challenges for WSAN design. With emphasis on the reliability issue, this paper presents an application-level design methodology for WSANs in mobile control applications. The solution is generic in that it is independent of the underlying platforms, environment, control system models, and controller design. To capture the link quality characteristics in terms of packet loss rate, experiments are conducted on a real WSAN system. From the experimental observations, a simple yet efficient method is proposed to deal with unpredictable packet loss on actuator nodes. Trace-based simulations give promising results, which demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Wireless control systems (WCSs) often have to operate in dynamic environments where the network traffic load may vary unpredictably over time. The sampling in sensors is conventionally time triggered with fixed periods. In this context, only worse-th
an-possible quality of control (QoC) can be achieved when the network is underloaded, while overloaded conditions may significantly degrade the QoC, even causing system instability. This is particularly true when the bandwidth of the wireless network is limited and shared by multiple control loops. To address these problems, a flexible time-triggered sampling scheme is presented in this work. Smart sensors are used to facilitate dynamic adjustment of sampling periods, which enhances the flexibility and resource efficiency of the system based on time-triggered sampling. Feedback control technology is exploited for adapting sampling periods in a periodic manner. The deadline miss ratio in each control loop is maintained at/around a desired level, regardless of workload variations. Simulation results show that the proposed sampling scheme is able to deal with dynamic and unpredictable variations in network traffic load. Compared to conventional time-triggered sampling, it leads to much better QoC in WCSs operating in dynamic environments.
