A TSN-Like Slot-Based Scheduler for Improved Wireless Quality and Platoon Formation in Smart Factories

The platooning of mobile robots, facilitated by Device-to-Device (D2D) communications, has become central in Industry 4.0, enhancing material transport, reducing energy consumption, and improving safety in smart factories. However, as the number of participating robots increases, maintaining effective communication and coordination becomes increasingly challenging. Shared spectrum usage in D2D networks can lead to communication collisions, particularly in highly dynamic scenarios, posing significant challenges in industrial environments. This paper introduces a novel slot-based solution inspired by Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) to address these challenges, ensuring reliable, low-latency communication while optimizing resource allocation and communication efficiency in platooning systems. To achieve this, we propose a controller named TSNCtl, operating at the application layer of the network stack. TSNCtl leverages a finite state machine (FSM) to manage platoon formation and employs slot-based scheduling for efficient message dissemination. Using the OMNeT++ simulation framework and INET library, we demonstrate the effectiveness of TSNCtl in reducing packet collisions across a variety of scenarios. Our experimental results highlight a significant improvement over the traditional CSMA/CA baseline employed in Wi-Fi-based protocols such as IEEE 802.11p. For instance, TSNCtl achieves near-zero packet collisions with appropriate configurations, even in highly dynamic environments.