Sensors, Vol. 20, Pages 1303: Fast Synchronization Scheme Using 2-Way Parallel Rendezvous in IEEE 802.15.4 TSCH (Sensors)

The high level of robustness and reliability required in industrial environments can be achieved using time-slotted channel hopping (TSCH) medium access control (MAC) specified in institute of electrical and electronics engineers (IEEE) 802.15.4. Using frequency channel hopping in the existing TSCH network, a parallel rendezvous technique is used to exchange packets containing channel information before network synchronization, thereby facilitating fast network synchronization. In this study, we propose a distributed radio listening (DRL)–TSCH technique that uses a two-way transmission strategy based on the parallel rendezvous technique to divide the listening channel by sharing the channel information between nodes before synchronization. The performance evaluation was conducted using the OpenWSN stack, and the actual experiment was carried out by utilizing the OpenMote-cc2538 module. The time taken for synchronization and the number of rendezvous packets transmitted were measured in linear and mesh topologies, and the amount of energy used was evaluated. The performance results demonstrate a maximum average reduction in synchronization time of 67% and a reduction in energy consumption of 58% when compared to the performance results of other techniques.