Watchdog (watchdog time)
A timer that declares a connection or task failed when the expected data or completion does not arrive before it expires.
The network analogy
A dead-peer timer, like a routing protocol's hold timer or BFD: no hello before expiry, and the neighbor is declared down.
Why it matters for wireless
The watchdog is the budget a roam, retry burst, or interference event has to fit inside. If the gap exceeds it, the device faults no matter how quickly the radio link recovers afterward.
The word covers several timers. A PROFINET IO connection is watched with a time setting derived from a multiple of the update time. PROFIsafe adds its own time expectation with acknowledgment, which PI calls the watchdog, on top of that connection. Inside a safety controller, one vendor defines the task watchdog as the maximum time allowed from the start of the safety task to its completion, and a timeout there is a nonrecoverable fault.
When someone says the watchdog tripped, ask which one. The network watchdogs are the ones the wireless design has to respect.
About this page
Built from 2 sources: 1 protocol owner or alliance and 1 vendor document. Researched and drafted with AI assistance, then reviewed and approved by Ben Rutter on . How pages are made
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Cite this page
Plain
Ben Rutter. "Watchdog (watchdog time)." OT Wireless, published October 5, 2026. https://otwireless.com/glossary/watchdog/
APA 7
Rutter, B. (2026, October 5). Watchdog (watchdog time). OT Wireless. https://otwireless.com/glossary/watchdog/
BibTeX
@misc{rutter2026watchdog,
author = {Rutter, Ben},
title = {{Watchdog (watchdog time)}},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://otwireless.com/glossary/watchdog/}},
organization = {OT Wireless},
}