Channel-Specific Wireless Sensor Network Path Data

Channel-specific path data for a 44-node 2.4 GHz wireless sensor network deployed in an industrial setting is presented. Each node generates one data packet every 28 seconds with the number of transmissions, received acknowledgements, average RSSI, and other metrics for a path to a single neighbor on a single channel for every 15 minutes of operation. Twenty-six days of data were recorded, revealing the scale of time-variation of stability throughout the network and how this is a frequency-dependent quantity. Particularly on low-power paths, both RSSI and stability are observed to vary in unpredictable ways that differ from other paths in the same spatial vicinity. A time-varying model is proposed for simulation of networks in low-noise environments. Channel hopping and path diversity succeed in maintaining near-perfect reliability at a delivered rate of 1.0 kb/s despite this time-and frequency-variance.