Dynamic Topology Control for WSNs in Critical Environments

Plant automation and control are mission-critical applications and require timely and reliable data delivery, which is difficult to provide using a wireless technology. This is especially more difficult in industrial environments with harsh radio conditions. In this paper the authors present a dynamic and distributed topology control algorithm for Wireless Sensor Networks for use in performance critical environments. This topology control algorithm assumes a small number of sensor nodes connected to a single sink and communicating using a TDMA-based MAC protocol designed with the application requirements in mind. The authors' solution was implemented and evaluated in real testbed inside an oil refinery.