Design and Implementation of a Rudimentary WirelessHART Network

Abstract

This report provides an overview over our efforts in continuing the work started by two previous students with the goal of implementing a full WirelessHART network stack on Atmel wireless sensor nodes. This is a collaborative project between the University of Oslo, Statoil and SINTEF. This report provides the reader with an introduction to the available protocols and technologies in use in the world of wireless sensor networks. After giving the reader an introduction to wireless sensor networks and the underlying physical and link layer characteristics of IEEE 802.15.4 we explore WirelessHART in more detail along with an analysis of the implemented code base and how it performs in our test scenarios. After carefully reviewing the implementation and final code base, it is clear that we have made advances in this area. In particular, our approach to the implementation of a WirelessHART Gateway was found to result in measurable improvements to the operation of the network and the continued effort to provide a full-fledged implementation of a WirelessHART Network. Our methods to address the protocol stack in the WirelessHART Field Devices resulted in an increase in stability and several new features which provide yet another step in the right direction. It also seems evident that although our work has resulted in important updates and improvements in this project, we have not exhausted this area of research. More work should be performed to explore this area further in order to further improve and extend the implementation of both the WirelessHART Field Devices and the WirelessHART Gateway.