Time- and channel-efficient link scheduling for convergecast in wirelessHART networks

Fast convergecast is a critical functionality for wireless networks deployed for industrial monitoring and control. We address the time- and channel-optimal link scheduling problem for convergecast in multi-line networks, operating according to the recent WirelessHART standard. We first establish the lower bound on convergecast time and the lower bound on the number of channels for time-optimal convergecast. Then we present optimal scheduling policy for time-optimal convergecast and near-optimal policy for jointly time- and channel-optimal convergecast. Numerical and simulation results show that our scheme can provide fast convergecast inWirelessHART networks.