MANET-issues and their effects on control applications

This article presents a case-study on the utilization of the mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) relying on the IEEE 802.15.4 protocol in control applications. The effects of the: a) adopted routing protocol of the network, b) number of communication nodes, c) network geographical topology, d) latency time, and e) the loss of packets and packet reordering, on the stability and performance of a prototype control process is investigated. Furthermore, the multi-hopping capabilities of these MANETs suffer in the case where a large number of nodes are operational, triggering a deterioration in the system´s performance. Extensive simulation studies indicate a need to adaptively adjust the gains of the used static controller caused by the packet-latency variations and the excessive packet losses