LON Technology in Wireless Sensor Networking Applications

In the paper a discussion on how to optimize LonWorks/EIA-709 sensor networking technology for wireless applications, in presented. Main solutions offered by Local Operating Networks (LON, LonWorks) platform attractive for wireless communication, that is, the send-on-delta concept and the sleep mode, are displayed. The predictive p-persistent CSMA MAC protocol constituting the heart of the communication capability of LON networks is analysed in detail. Next, the message services are described, and the analytical evaluation of delivery reliability is derived. Performance evaluation based on simulation results for unicast traffic is presented first. In order to highlight the robustness of the predictive CSMA to overload situations, the saturation performance for a general case load scenario including multicast transactions is reported. The methods of effective management of energy consumption in LonWorks networks are discussed. Finally, the LON design tradeoffs are summarized.