Testing network protocols and signal attenuation in packed food transports

Abstract

Two sensor network protocols for the monitoring of packed food products were tested in different sea containers. The packet rate and the signal strength of all sensor-to-sensor links were recorded in the flash memory of the sensor nodes. The performance of the two protocols was compared and protocol improvements were tested by simulation based on this data. The high signal attenuation by water-containing products was identified as the major problem. One of the two tested protocols was newly developed with a focus on low energy consumption. A simplified link estimator, which required only a minimum number of control messages, detects the correct routing in most cases.