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Time Sensitive Networking for Wi-Fi Based Wireless Industrial Environments
In production industries, mission-critical assignments require networks characterised by deterministic low latency, dedicated bandwidth resources, and, chiefly, reliability. Several fieldbus technologies are specially placed for this. Their commonality is that they run on standard Ethernet. The rela...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Electrical Engineering
2022
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| _version_ | 1867613249005944832 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Kinabo, Arnold Baraka Doste |
| author2 | Mwangama, Joyce |
| author_browse | Kinabo, Arnold Baraka Doste Mwangama, Joyce |
| author_facet | Mwangama, Joyce Kinabo, Arnold Baraka Doste |
| author_sort | Kinabo, Arnold Baraka Doste |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | In production industries, mission-critical assignments require networks characterised by deterministic low latency, dedicated bandwidth resources, and, chiefly, reliability. Several fieldbus technologies are specially placed for this. Their commonality is that they run on standard Ethernet. The relatively new Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) is among these technologies. It is a set of Ethernet standards that guarantees determinism for real-time usecases. TSN sets itself apart in that it is vendor-agnostic. And so, it promotes interoperability among standard-conformant devices. Being based on Ethernet, even TSN is plagued by downsides associated with cabled networks, most importantly, the limited range and mobility. In this regard, wireless networks are an attractive option – it would be an opportunistic venture to operate TSN in the wireless medium. Previous works have tried to address how this can be done, but as yet, it is an open problem. The issue is that most wireless networks are not optimised for determinism. Most lack the scheduling, synchronisation and other capabilities that timing-stringent applications require. Wi-Fi, for instance, suffers from many issues stemming from randomised medium access and interference, which remove the predictability from its communications. Critical TSN traffic needs special consideration when run with other services in current Wi-Fi. That being said, the key research question is: can one contend with the problem of transmitting TSN and non-TSN traffic together in the same wireless network? To answer this, the work develops a TSN simulation model that operates in Wi-Fi, whose test results can be studied to aid in analysing wireless TSN. The prototype model runs in a simulation environment, and was developed using methods that involved reusing and modifying the present wireless architecture to support the TSN traffic. Through the course of several iterative experiments, it was revealed that although the current generation of Wi-Fi can support TSN traffic, it does so inefficiently. Even with no interference, the TSN traffic experiences low losses only when the network capacity utilisation is very low, below a small percentage value. Considering the typically low demands on bandwidth in many TSN applications, this inefficient operation may still be sufficient for operating TSN over existing Wi-Fi networks. For more robust and general applications, Wi-Fi requires further enhancements to its mode of operation in order to support prioritisation of TSN traffic and more accurately cope with higher loads. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/35755 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:33:08.525Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publishDateRange | 2022 |
| publishDateSort | 2022 |
| publisher | Department of Electrical Engineering |
| publisherStr | Department of Electrical Engineering |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/35755 Time Sensitive Networking for Wi-Fi Based Wireless Industrial Environments Kinabo, Arnold Baraka Doste Mwangama, Joyce Lysko, Albert Electrical Engineering In production industries, mission-critical assignments require networks characterised by deterministic low latency, dedicated bandwidth resources, and, chiefly, reliability. Several fieldbus technologies are specially placed for this. Their commonality is that they run on standard Ethernet. The relatively new Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) is among these technologies. It is a set of Ethernet standards that guarantees determinism for real-time usecases. TSN sets itself apart in that it is vendor-agnostic. And so, it promotes interoperability among standard-conformant devices. Being based on Ethernet, even TSN is plagued by downsides associated with cabled networks, most importantly, the limited range and mobility. In this regard, wireless networks are an attractive option – it would be an opportunistic venture to operate TSN in the wireless medium. Previous works have tried to address how this can be done, but as yet, it is an open problem. The issue is that most wireless networks are not optimised for determinism. Most lack the scheduling, synchronisation and other capabilities that timing-stringent applications require. Wi-Fi, for instance, suffers from many issues stemming from randomised medium access and interference, which remove the predictability from its communications. Critical TSN traffic needs special consideration when run with other services in current Wi-Fi. That being said, the key research question is: can one contend with the problem of transmitting TSN and non-TSN traffic together in the same wireless network? To answer this, the work develops a TSN simulation model that operates in Wi-Fi, whose test results can be studied to aid in analysing wireless TSN. The prototype model runs in a simulation environment, and was developed using methods that involved reusing and modifying the present wireless architecture to support the TSN traffic. Through the course of several iterative experiments, it was revealed that although the current generation of Wi-Fi can support TSN traffic, it does so inefficiently. Even with no interference, the TSN traffic experiences low losses only when the network capacity utilisation is very low, below a small percentage value. Considering the typically low demands on bandwidth in many TSN applications, this inefficient operation may still be sufficient for operating TSN over existing Wi-Fi networks. For more robust and general applications, Wi-Fi requires further enhancements to its mode of operation in order to support prioritisation of TSN traffic and more accurately cope with higher loads. 2022-02-18T09:44:05Z 2022-02-18T09:44:05Z 2021 2022-02-16T15:38:03Z Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/35755 eng application/pdf Department of Electrical Engineering Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment |
| spellingShingle | Electrical Engineering Kinabo, Arnold Baraka Doste Time Sensitive Networking for Wi-Fi Based Wireless Industrial Environments |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Time Sensitive Networking for Wi-Fi Based Wireless Industrial Environments |
| title_full | Time Sensitive Networking for Wi-Fi Based Wireless Industrial Environments |
| title_fullStr | Time Sensitive Networking for Wi-Fi Based Wireless Industrial Environments |
| title_full_unstemmed | Time Sensitive Networking for Wi-Fi Based Wireless Industrial Environments |
| title_short | Time Sensitive Networking for Wi-Fi Based Wireless Industrial Environments |
| title_sort | time sensitive networking for wi fi based wireless industrial environments |
| topic | Electrical Engineering |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/35755 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kinaboarnoldbarakadoste timesensitivenetworkingforwifibasedwirelessindustrialenvironments |