WirelessHART Data Link Layer and MAC

Sensor Networks, AAU Klagenfurt

MD. Sarwar Zahan & Dejan Sazdov

Introduction:
WirelessHART is a Wireless Mesh Network Communications Protocol designed to meet the needs for
process automation applications. It is a secure and robust mesh networking technology operating in
the 2.4GHz ISM radio band. It utilizes IEEE 802.15.4 compatible DSSS radios with channel hopping on a
packet by packet basis.

Figure 1. A Typical WirelessHART Network

1. WirelessHeart data link Layer:

The data link layer is the second layer of the seven-layer OSI model of computer networking. Its
provide reliable transmission of data frames between two nodes connected by a physical layer. The
Data-Link layer ensures that an initial connection has been set up, divides output data into data
frames, and handles the acknowledgements from a receiver that the data arrived successfully.

In WirelessHART the Data Link Layer Protocol Data Unit (DLPDU) establishes a structure of the
WirelessHART frame and provides means for reliable and secure communications at the Data-Link
Layer (DLL). The DLL resides on top of the IEEE 802.4.15 Physical Layer. The WirelessHART DLL differs
from the IEEE 802.15.4-2006 DLL introducing frequency hopping and channel blacklisting. The DLPDU
specifies an address format employed, contains a sequence number for every frame transaction and an
information about the DLPDU type and priority. WirelessHART DLPDUs a network that enabled devices
is maintained and synchronized in time.
 Figure 2. WirelessHART DLPDU structure

Every WirelessHART frame (that is any message sent or received) starts with a fixed first byte (0x41)
that can be used, if needed, for filtering of WirelessHART frames. The first byte alongside with an
Address Specifier field is an IEEE 802.15.4 Frame Control Field. Since security is an essential part of the
WirelessHART protocol, bit four of the first byte is set to indicate that an IEEE 802.15.4-2006 security is
enabled. The TDMA Data Link Layer Specification defines five WirelessHART frame types.
These frame types are:
1. Acknowledgment DLPDU
2. Advertise DLPDU
3. Keep-Alive DLPDU
4. Disconnect DLPDU
5. Data DLPDU

All the DLPDUs except the Data DLPDU are exclusively the DLL PDUs. Essentially, Acknowledgment
(ACK), Advertise, Keep-Alive and Disconnect WirelessHART DLPDUs are originated at the DLL and are
exchanged only between neighboring peer devices. Advertisement DLPDUs are invitations to a
network. Devices wishing to join a network listen for Advertisement DLPDUs. Keep-Alive DLPDUs are
frames without a payload, they can be used for network time synchronization, access communication
with a neighbor and a neighbor discovery. ACK DLPDUs are used to inform a sender of a non-broadcast
frame if the DLPDU is accepted or not. ACK DLPDUs contain a Response Code and a Time Adjustment
field (a difference between expected and actual time of the DLPDU reception). Destination Devices will
respond with an ACK DLPDU in response to all Keep-Alive, Advertise, or Disconnect DLPDUs addressed
to a device and successfully receive. Disconnect DLPDUs are used to advise neighboring devices that
the device is leaving the network.
2. Media Access Control (MAC)

Media Access Control provides Data Link Layer addressing and defining of data according to the
physical signaling requirements of the medium and the type of the Data Link Layer protocol in use.

At the MAC layer, which is a sublayer of data link layer, WirelessHART utilizes time division multiple
access (TDMA) to ensure contention free transmission. Each time-slot is of 10 msec duration. Between
two communicating devices, the time slot has just sufficient room for transmit/receive one data unit
plus an acknowledgement packet. In case of broadcast message, acknowledgement is no longer
necessary and multiple receivers can be assigned to the same slot. A collection of time slots form a
superframe. The size of superframe may vary and all the devices in the network are required to
support multiple concurrent frames. The superframes are then repeated at a fixed rate throughout the
network lifetime.

In essence, communication in a WirelessHART network is defined through the superframe, time slot
and the wireless links. The link (aside from broadcast links) pairs two devices. It can belong to one and
only one superframe. Each link is associated with a set of channels used for frequency hopping All
devices in the network share an identical channel lists indicating which channel can be used.

Each network device also maintains a list of links, showing their connection to other devices. Upon
transmission, the device randomly chooses a link from the available link list for transmission and uses
the channel-offset to calculate the link frequency/channel. Transmission is then initiated at the
designated time slot within a superframe. This process repeats at the next designated time slot, which
may be in the same superframe, or a concurrent one.

Due to channel diversity provided by frequency hopping, the time slot can also be shared by different
nodes, which is used for example advertising device presence or neighbor discovery. In case of collision
at the destination node, the source devices use the random back-off mechanism to wait for new
opportunities of transmission. For each unacknowledged transmission, the waiting window size is
increased. This is similar to other contention based channel access schemes. Broadcast messages
however, are not allowed on shared time slots.
3. References

[1]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WirelessHART
[2]. Deji Chen, Mark Nixon, Aloysius Mok,Ā WirelessHART Real-Time Mesh Network for Industrial
Automationā, 2010.
[3]. Yipeng Wang , Filip Barac, Implementation of the WirelessHART MAC Layer in the OPNET
Simulator, 2013
[4]. Anna N. Kim,Fredrik Hekland,Stig Petersen,Paula Doyle, When HART Goes Wireless: Understanding
and Implementing the WirelessHART Standard,2008.
[5] Igor Konovalov, A Framework for WirelessHART Simulations, 2010