Optimizing Data Latency for Time-Critical Avionic Sensors.

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are widely used in the industrial context due to their cost-effectiveness, low power consumption and seamless connectivity. Integrating WSNs in an aircraft allows replacing or extending parts of wired communication for enhanced redundancy and to enable new applications. We propose and evaluate a mechanism based on the 6TiSCH protocol stack to differentiate traffic by priorities on the link layer. Proposed mechanism improves latency for time-critical avionic applications without compromising the performance of other traffic types. Analytical evaluation using queuing theory together with simulations in OMNeT++ demonstrate that up to three times reduction of the end-to-end delay for high-priority traffic is feasible.