Wireless network performance test in hybrid wired/wireless network system

Recently, considerable researches on wireless networks have been carried in industrial automation. A great deal of wireless control and monitoring systems are introduced in certain problematic parts of the process industry to improve the productivity and efficiency. However, the control and monitor application requires high standard performances, such as reliability, real-timing and accuracy. Therefore a comprehensive performance assessment is needed to test the property of the wireless network so as to optimize the network protocol and improve the network communication quality. This paper studies the wireless network in the integrated wired/wireless fieldbus system and proposes a method to acquire a set of key indicators of wireless networks. Then, a test device is designed to acquire the performance indicators of the system. The wireless protocols are analysed according to the performance indicators. The results show that the test for the performance of wireless networks can be realized by the method mentioned.