sWSN3: A simulation tool for reliability calculation in WSN

Knowledge about the reliability of a wireless sensor network is important in industry. Indeed, in holonic manufacturing, it is convenient to ensure that decisions are made with reliable data. However, experimental evaluation in a real environment is a task that consumes time and financial resources, it also depends on several factors such as the technical characteristics of the transceiver and the location of the nodes. Thus, the use of simulation and calculation software in Industry 4.0 can potentially reduce costs and implementation time significantly, nonetheless some simulators deal with power consumption and network reliability with theoretical models that have limitations for commercial devices. This paper presents the sWSN3 tool that, through an intuitive graphical interface allows placing sensor nodes on the virtual environment of a plant layout and calculates the reliability of a wireless sensor network using parameters such as signal to noise ratio, received packet rate, and battery life time. Results show that sWSN3 can accurately estimate the reliability of a virtual WSN.