An in-vehicle wireless sensor network for heavy vehicles

A practical method for the design of an in-vehicle wireless sensor network operating in a truck is presented. The network has been dimensioned using promising candidate sensor applications that were chosen based on a set of key criteria including safety, security, and timing-criticality and commercial viability. An extensive set of experiments were carried out to determine characteristics, feasibility and ease of integration of such a network into the vehicle electrical system. A network of 10 node positions and 3 possible gateway positions was used as a reference platform. Initial results indicate that for truck variants with up to 5 axles, there is near universal coverage using 2.4 GHz IEEE 802.15.4 radios with link budgets above 100 dB. Links between sensors and all gateway positions have been found to support above 90% packet reception rates at received signal strengths of about -70 dBm, with gateway positions in the central and rear chassis areas performing best. Current estimates are that such a network is robust enough to support sensors of low safety, security and timing criticality.