Impact of Manual Parameter Tuning on the Performance of Industrial 6TiSCH Networks

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) offers significant benefits to the industrial world by simplifying operations and enhancing the safety of deploying critical components in complex, constrained environments. The introduction of the 6TiSCH network stack marked a pivotal advancement, providing a structured framework to improve the safety and efficiency of IIoT applications. Since its inception, extensive research efforts have focused on refining 6TiSCH protocols, which rely on a set of tunable parameters to optimize network performance. In this work, we investigate the impact of manual parameter tuning on the performance of industrial 6TiSCH networks through an experimental approach. Our findings highlight the complexity and limitations of the tuning process, particularly in balancing reliability, determinism, and resource efficiency. These insights provide a foundation for future improvements in the design and optimization of 6TiSCH protocols.