Implementation of Wireless Sensor Hub to Support Protocols Interoperability Hitixa R. Patel VLSI & Embedded System Design GTU PG School Ahmedabad, India hitixa30@gmail.com Mr. Rajesh Sola Advance Computer Training School C-Dac Acts Pune, India srajesh@cdac.in Abstract This Paper presents a wireless sensor hub which supports protocols interoperability such as MiWi and WiFi protocol. The wireless sensor network/hub (WSN) is a combination of sensing, computation, and communication in to a single tiny device. The coordinator usually undertake the task to collect sensor data information, process the information and also as the interface of the network with the user. The data is gathered on gateway/pc- Beagle board and it is send to the web server. Data communication is done on PIC and Linux platform using MiWi and WiFi protocols. Keywords Wireless sensor hub/network(wsn) MiWi, WiFi, Linux I. INTRODUCTION Implementation of wireless sensor networks and efficient design has become a hot area of research in recent years, due to the vast potential of sensor networks to enable applications that connect the physical world to the virtual world. The increasing interest in wireless sensor networks can be promptly understood simply by thinking about what they essentially are: a large number of small sensing self-powered nodes which gather information or detect special events and communicate in a wireless fashion, with the goal of handing their processed data to a base station. Main three key elements are sensing, processing and communication whose combination in single tiny device gives rise to a vast number of applications [1]. Each node of wireless sensor network consists of a wireless microcontroller interfaced with sensors. Sensor data is shared between these sensor nodes and used as input to a distributed estimation system. A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN)[1][2] is nothing but a large-scale network of resource-constrained sensor nodes that are deployed at different locations. All the protocols that are designed and implemented in WSNs should provide some real-time support as they are applied in areas where data is sensed, processed and transmitted based on an event that leads to an immediate action[3]. The main advantages of wireless systems over wired systems is the considerable reduction in the cost and power consumption. MiWi and MiWi P2P are proprietary wireless protocols designed by microchip technology that uses small, low-power digital radios based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard for wireless personal area networks (WPANs). It is designed for low data transmission rates and short distance, cost constrained networks, such as industrial monitoring and control, home and building automation, remote control, low-power wireless sensors, lighting control and automated meter reading. A system prototype is implemented using microchip RF 2.4GHz trans-receiver module with microchip microcontroller, temperature sensor, and other sensors to build a network [4]. With the evolution of wireless and SoC technology, many kinds of WiFi wireless sensor SoC chips for low power applications have been developed. WiFi based Wireless Sensor Network consists of low power consumption nodes distributed in the detection area [5]. Here WiFi based network is formed by CC3200 SimpleLink WiFi Board. II. NETWORK TOPOLOGY AND DEVICE ROLES MiWi and MiWi P2P are proprietary wireless protocols designed by Microchip Technology. They are based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard for wireless personal area networks (WPANs) for that there are three roles of device: PAN Coordinator, Coordinator and End device. They are associated with two function categories called Full Functional Device (FFD) and Reduced Function Device (RFD) [6]. www.ijrcct.org Page 192
With Microchip s MiWi Protocol, basic peer-to-peer and star topologies is possible. Here for the testing purpose we are using peer-to-peer topology. For the wide network we can also use star topology. In a star topology, all end devices communicate only with the PAN coordinator. If any end device needs to transfer data to another end device, it has to send its data to PAN coordinator which in turn forwards the data to intended recipient or end device [7]. III. PROPOSED SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE As shown in fig. 1, the whole work is divided into three portions. In first portion, Wireless sensors can reorganize themselves to form a network and convey meaningful data. These nodes have the capability to reorganize them into a network and transmit data. Communication of the signal is carried out using radio frequency (RF) waves. In second portion, frequency wave coming from sensor side antenna will be detected by the ZENA wireless adapter and WI-FI adapter which is connected to the PC/Host System. The ZENA Wireless Adapter is a multifunction Universal Serial Bus (USB) wireless adapter connecting USB-equipped desktop or notebook computers with Microchip wireless protocol (MIWI) for development or application uses. Fig. 1 Block Diagram of Proposed System Using the usb skeleton from linux, we have developed usb driver for Zena Adapter. USB framework for zena adapter is as shown in Fig. 2. In third portion, all collected data on gateway/host device/beagle board will be send to the web server. Hence, the person can access that data. A. Hardware Model Basic idea for designing a proposed system is shown in the Fig. 1. The basic building blocks of the WSN hardware are MiWi Boards as a MiWi node, CC3200 SimpleLink WiFi board, ZENA & WiFi adapter, PC- Host Device/Beagle Board. MiWi Board has PIC18F46J50 microcontroller is a good option for sensor nodes, providing more computational power. The SimpleLink CC3200 device is a wireless MCU that integrates a high-performance ARM Cortex-M4 MCU. It allows customers to develop an entire application with a single IC. B. Software Model For MiWi communication, slave nodes are PIC programmed to data acquisition from sensor and communicate with the MiWi modules. At another side to communicate with the PC/Host device Zena Wireless Adapter is needed. Here we are using ZENA MRF24J40 wireless adapter. While we are working on Linux Platform, usb driver for zena adapter need to be developed. Fig. 2 USB Host Stack for Zena Adapter MiWi Boards are PIC programmed using MPLAB X IDE. Programs are compiled and loaded on the MiWi board using C8 compiler and PICKit3 respectively. Same way CC3200 SimpleLink WiFi board also need to be programmed using Code Composer Studio (CCS). CC3200 has ARM cortex M4 core which is programmed and loaded by CCS. www.ijrcct.org Page 193
IV. IMPLEMENTION OF MIWI BASED NETWORK The base MiWi code which supports the implementation of the proprietary protocols on MiWi board s microcontrollers consist of about thirty files that allow functioning with transceivers and protocol variants like MiWi P2P. The files belong to source and header files, with extension.c and.h respectively are as shown in Fig. 3. Packet transmitted within wireless network using MiWi protocol can be monitored or displayed with the help of Zena Wireless Adapter/Sniffer and software such as Wireless Development Studio (WDS). Here we are also observing the transmitted packets on linux terminal with Zena Adapter and its driver. VI. IMPLEMENTATION OF WIFI BASED NETWORK In Wireless network WiFi communication can be implemented using TI CC3200 SimpleLink WiFi board. This board provides a low cost evaluation platform for ARM cortex M4 based CC32000 MCU[9]. For WiFi communication using CC3200, CC3200 board should be connected to USB power supply or to our computer. Connect our phone, tablet or PC to CC3200 via configuring WiFi for device. On our device open the http://mysimplelink.net it will open the window as shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 3 Source and Header files required for task and networking V. PACKET TRANSMISSION OVER MIWI NETWORK MiWi based on IEEE 802.15.4 defines packet size as 127 bytes. According to IEEE 802.15.4 each MAC frame consists of three components; MAC Header, MAC Payload and MAC footer which contains Frame Check Sequence. Packet should be constructed according to Fig. 4. MRF24J40 transceiver has 128 bytes transmit and receive buffer which allows for full packet transmission and reception [8]. Fig. 5 On Board Website There are different demos. Like that demo, we also developed one in which board work as WLAN- station, WLAN-AP (Access Point) and also develop the application to get time. Fig. 4 MiWi P2P Packet Format www.ijrcct.org Page 194
VII. RESULTS A. MiWi Communication over WSN The presented results are derived from network arrangement consisting of two MiWi nodes, WiFi node, mobile phone/laptop/tablet and Host device. Fig. 6 and 7 shows the MiWi P2P communication with packets captured by host device/pc using Wireless Development Studio (WDS). Zena adapter allows to display data transfer between active network elements. Fig. 7 MiWi node Communication Here Fig. 8 shows the MiWi packet capturing on linux environment. It would be done by Zena driver and user-space program. Fig. 8 MiWi Packet Capturing on Linux Terminal Fig. 6 MiWi Packet Capturing in WDS B. CC3200 WiFi Communication CC3200 provides WiFi for IOT. In network, CC3200 board connects with mobile phone/tablet which has WiFi facility and internet connection also. Fig. 9 and Fig. 10 show CC3200 work as WLAN-station, Access point respectively. It also gives the current time as shown in Fig. 11. www.ijrcct.org Page 195
Fig. 9 WLAN- Station Fig. 11 Get Current Time VIII. CONCLUSION The goal of this research work is to implement wireless sensor hub using MiWi and Wifi protocols. A whole network adjustment has been made over the two protocols MiWi and WiFi. A base code file for MiWi is created on Micochip s MPLAB X IDE and for WiFi Code Composer Studio is used. Moreover we developed the USB device driver on linux platform for Zena adapter which is used as a Network analyzer for sniffing packets for MiWi protocol and Microchip MiWi board with MRF24j40 is used for MiWi communication. For WiFi protocol, CC3200 simplelink launchpad is used. And this launchpad is helpful to develop IOT in WPAN with WiFi. At hardware level, test conducted on different boards such as Zena Adapter, MiWi board, CC3200 launchpad, mobile phone. Fig. 10 WLAN-Access Point REFERENCES [1] Daniele Puccinelli and Martin Haenggi, Wireless Sensor Networks: Applications and Challenges of Ubiquitous Sensing [2] Shio Kumar Singh, M P Singh, and D K Singh, Routing Protocols in Wireless Sensor Networks A Survey, International Journal of Computer www.ijrcct.org Page 196
Science & Engineering Survey (IJCSES), Nov. 2010, 63-83 [3] Mahmood Ali and Sai Kumar Ravula, Real-Time Support and Energy Efficiency in Wireless Sensor Networks, Master Thesis in Computer System Engineering, School of Information Science, Computer and Electrical Engineering, Halmstad University, Technical report, IDE0805,January 2008 [4] Suman Chhajed, Mohammad Sabir, Kiran P.Singh, Wireless Sensor Network Implementation Using MiWi wireless Protocol Stack, IEEE International Advance Computing Conference (IACC), 2014,239 244 [5] Li Li, Hu Xiaoguang, Chen Ke, He Ketai, The Applications Of WiFi-based Wireless Sensor Network In Internet Of Things And Smart Grid, pages 789 793; 6th IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ICIEA), 2011 [6] MiWi Wireless Networking Protocol Stack, Application Note AN1066 [7] Meneses G., Lemos J.D., Implementing IEEE 802.15.4-based Communications in Sensor Nodes aimed for Biomedical Signal Monitoring, 7th Colombian Computing Congress (CCC), 2012,1 6; [8] MiWi P2P Wireless Protocol, Aplication Note AN1204 (Yifeng Yang), Microchip Technology, 2010. [9] CC3200 SimpleLink WiFi and Internet Of Things Solution, Texas instrument, 2014. www.ijrcct.org Page 197