Teaching communication technologies and standards for the industrial IoT? Use 6TiSCH!

Abstract

The IETF 6TiSCH stack encompasses IEEE802.15.4 TSCH, IETF 6LoWPAN, RPL and CoAP. It is one of the key standards-based technology to enable industrial process monitoring and control, and unleash the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The 6TiSCH stack is also a valuable asset for educational purposes, as it integrates an Internet-enabled IPv6-based upper-stack with state-of-the-art low-power wireless mesh communication technologies. Teaching with 6TiSCH empowers students with a valuable set of competences, including topics related to computer networking (Medium Access Control operation, IPv6 networking), embedded systems (process scheduling, concurrency) and wireless communications (multi-path propagation, interference effects), as well as application requirements for the IIoT. This article discusses how the 6TiSCH stack can be incorporated into existing and new curricula to teach the next generation of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science professionals designing and deploying such networks. It also gives a comprehensive overview of the 6TiSCH stack and of the tools that exist to support a course based on it.