Multi-agent Based Uncoordinated Channel Hopping in the IEEE 802.15.4e.

An emerging concept in railway management is to reduce the distance between consecutive trains, actively controlling their separation in order to enforce a continued safe distance. This concept is referred to as “Virtual Coupling” and it needs highly reliable and fast, real-time wireless communication systems. In this respect, TSCH was introduced in the IEEE 802.15.4e amendment to improve reliability of communication. Recent studies addressed the fast joining time problem where different traffic schedules must be merged when different communication domains come together. In this paper, we study the hoping strategy involved in TSCH to derive the probability of successful hopping upon merging.