Development and Validation of an ISA100.11a Simulation Model for Accurate Industrial WSN Planning and Deployment

During the planning, design, and optimization of an industrial wireless sensor network (IWSN), the proposed solutions need to be validated and evaluated. To reduce the time and expenses, highly accurate simulators can be used for these tasks. This paper presents the development and experimental validation of an ISA100.11a simulation model for industrial wireless sensor networks (IWSN). To achieve high simulation accuracy, the ISA100.11a software stack running on two types of certified devices (i.e., an all-in-one gateway and a field device) is integrated with the ns-3 simulator. The behavior of IWSNs is analyzed in four different types of test scenarios: (1) through simulation using the proposed ISA100.11a simulation model, (2) on an experimental testbed using ISA100.11a certified devices, (3) in a Gateway-in-the-loop Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) scenario, and (4) in a Node-in-the-loop HIL scenario. Moreover, the scalability of the proposed simulation model is evaluated. Several metrics related to the timing of events and communication statistics are used to evaluate the behavior and performance of the tested IWSNs. The results analysis demonstrates the potential of the proposed model to accurately predict IWSN behavior.