6TiSCH Scheduling Function Design Suite founded on Contiki-NG

Abstract

6TiSCH (IPv6 over the TSCH mode of IEEE 802.15.4e) is a key enabler of Industrial Internet of Things. A 6TiSCH network is an IPv6 wireless multi-hop network built over TSCH (Timeslotted Channel Hopping) links. TSCH is a medium access mode of IEEE 802.15.4 which provides deterministic properties, and increases robustness against external interference. A 6TiSCH scheduling function computes a TSCH communication schedule which determines key performance indicators of the network such as end-to-end latency. We propose a 6TiSCH scheduling function design suite founded on Contiki-NG, an open source and cross-platform operating system for wireless sensor networks. We implement missing pieces of Contiki-NG and other tools for the design suite: a Cooja mote port of TSCH, 6top Protocol (6P) on Contiki-NG, and a 6P dissector for Wireshark. The Cooja mote is a node type of Cooja that is an accompanying simulator of Contiki-NG. We confirm that execution time of a 6TiCSH network simulation with our Cooja mote port is more than 5 times faster than that with Z1 mote. It is confirmed that our 6P implementation is interopeable with other implementations including OpenWSN. All our implementations are publicly available as part of the official releases of Cooja, Contiki-NG, and Wireshark.