Experimental comparison of Industrial Internet of Things protocol stacks in Time Slotted Channel Hopping scenarios

Time Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH) is a recent enhancement of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard aimed at the industrial sector. To complement its unique features, the IPv6 over the TSCH mode of IEEE 802.15.4e (6tisch) Working Group released a set of specifications that define the way Time Slotted Channel Hopping could be integrated in embedded IPv6 networks based on the IPv6 over Low Power WPAN. TheI 6tisch standard is now available under several hardware/software platforms so that a cross-comparison of the different implementations deserves particular attention in order to properly identify performance bottlenecks and scavenge pros and cons of the 6tisch technology. The present contribution provides an experimental crosscomparison of protocol stack implementations running on top of different devices. In particular, experimental tests were conducted to characterize the behavior of OpenWSN and Contiki in Time Slotted Channel Hopping-based scenarios made up by TelosB, Zolertia Z1, and OpenMote motes. By considering star and chain topologies and different traffic load conditions, many performance indices were measured, including memory footprint, energy consumption, synchronization time, duty-cycle, end-to-end packet delays, and Packet Loss Ratio. Obtained results highlight strengths and weaknesses of each hardware/software platform, while providing trade-off considerations about flexibility, accuracy, energy-efficiency, and Quality of Service