Experimental Study of Data Transmission Performance for Rotating Wireless Sensors Using Automatic Repeat Request

IEEE 802.15.4 wireless sensor radios have limited resources, resulting in a higher probability of transmission errors in monitoring fast rotating structures such as the machinery spindle. To achieve reliable data transmission with wireless sensors, one feasible approach is to use automatic repeat request (ARQ) where packets that are not acknowledged are retransmitted immediately after timeout. The objective of this paper is to experimentally study the ARQ-based data transmission performance of IEEE 802.15.4 wireless sensor radios on a mechanical rotation apparatus. Using a specially designed rotation apparatus, the ARQ-based data transmission performance has been studied in terms of the data throughput and packet error rate (PER). It is found that ARQ is able to improve the data throughput performance and decrease the cycle PER at the cost of degrading the transmission energy efficiency. A throughput model is further proposed and validated for rotating wireless sensors when ARQ is implemented.