An innovative frequency hopping management mechanism for Bluetooth-based industrial networks

This paper presents a novel frequency hopping management mechanism for Bluetooth networks used in industrial environments. In these contexts, time-critical transmissions have to be supported by the automation network. Transmission timeliness can be compromised by interference between co-located cells, that increases the delay because of retransmissions. The paper introduces a novel mechanism, called a Piconet Management Approach, based on an innovative frequency hopping methodology which reduces the interference among co-located piconets, thus improving the network performance in terms of transmission delay and throughput. The paper describes the approach and discusses its performance.