Skip to main content

Experimental Study of the Impact of WLAN Interference on IEEE 802.15.4 Body Area Networks

  • Conference paper

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCCN,volume 5432))

Abstract

As the number of wireless devices sharing the unlicensed 2.4 GHz ISM band increases, interference is becoming a problem of paramount importance. We experimentally investigate the effects of controlled 802.11b interference as well as realistic urban RF interference on packet delivery performance in IEEE 802.15.4 body area networks. Our multi-channel measurements, conducted with Tmote Sky sensor nodes, show that in the low-power regime external interference is typically the major cause for substantial packet loss. We report on the empirical correlation between 802.15.4 packet delivery performance and urban WLAN activity and explore 802.15.4 cross-channel quality correlation. Lastly, we examine trends in the noise floor as a potential trigger for channel hopping to detect and mitigate the effects of interference.

This work has been partially supported by the European Commission under the contracts FP7-2007-IST-2-224053 (CONET) and FP6-2005-IST-5-033506 (ANGEL).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Yang, G.-Z. (ed.): Body Sensor Networks. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Texas Instruments. CC2420 2.4 GHz IEEE 802.15.4 / ZigBee-ready RF Transceiver (April 2002), http://www.ti.com/lit/gpn/cc2420

  3. Espina, J., Falc, T., Mülhens, O.: Network Topologies, Communication Protocols, and Standards. In: Body Sensor Networks, pp. 145–182. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  4. Freescale Semiconductor. Mc1319x coexistence - application note, http://www.freescale.com

  5. Golmie, N., Cypher, D., Rébala, O.: Performance analysis of low rate wireless technologies for medical applications. Computer Communications 28(10), 1255–1275 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. HART field communication protocol specifications: TDMA data link layer specification. HCF_SPEC-75 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Howitt, I., Gutierrez, J.: IEEE 802.15.4 low rate - wireless personal area network coexistence issues. In: Wireless Communications and Networking, 2003. WCNC 2003. 2003 IEEE, vol. 3, pp. 1481–1486 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  8. IEEE standard for information technology - telecommunications and information exchange between systems - local and metropolitan area networks specific requirements part 15.4: wireless medium access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) specifications for low-rate wireless personal area networks (LR-WPANs). IEEE Std 802.15.4-2003, pp. 1–670 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  9. IEEE standard for information technology - telecommunications and information exchange between systems - local and metropolitan area networks - specific requirements. - part 15.1: Wireless medium access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) specifications for wireless personal area networks (WPANs). IEEE Std 802.15.1-2005 (Revision of IEEE Std 802.15.1-2002), pp. 1–580 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  10. IEEE standard for information technology-telecommunications and information exchange between systems-local and metropolitan area networks-specific requirements - part 11: Wireless LAN medium access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) specifications. IEEE Std 802.11-2007 (Revision of IEEE Std 802.11-1999), pp. C1–1184 (December 2007)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Jennic Ltd. Co-existence of IEEE 802.15.4 at 2.4 GHz - application note, http://www.jennic.com/

  12. Miluzzo, E., Zheng, X., Fodor, K., Campbell, A.T.: Radio characterization of 802.15.4 and its impact on the design of mobile sensor networks. In: Verdone, R. (ed.) EWSN 2008. LNCS, vol. 4913, pp. 171–188. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  13. Moteiv Corporation. Tmote sky datasheet, http://www.sentilla.com/pdf/eol/tmote-sky-datasheet.pdf

  14. Musaloiu-E, R., Terzis, A.: Minimising the effect of WiFi interference in 802.15.4 wireless sensor networks. Int. J. Sen. Netw. 3(1), 43–54 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Pollin, S., Ergen, M., Timmers, M., Dejonghe, A., van der Perre, L., Catthoor, F., Moerman, I., Bahai, A.: Distributed cognitive coexistence of 802.15.4 with 802.11. In: 1st International Conference on Cognitive Radio Oriented Wireless Networks and Communications, 2006, June 2006, pp. 1–5 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Pollin, S., Tan, I., Hodge, B., Chun, C., Bahai, A.: Harmful coexistence between 802.15.4 and 802.11: A measurement-based study. In: 3rd International Conference on Cognitive Radio Oriented Wireless Networks and Communications, 2008. CrownCom 2008, May 2008, pp. 1–6 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Thonet, G., Allard-Jacquin, P., Colle, P.: ZigBee - WiFi coexistence, white paper and test report. Technical report, Schneider Electric (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Yoon, D.G., Shin, S.Y., Kwon, W.H., Park, H.S.: Packet error rate analysis of IEEE 802.15.4 under IEEE 802.11b interference. In: IEEE 63rd Vehicular Technology Conference, 2006. VTC 2006-Spring, May 2006, vol. 3, pp. 1186–1190 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  19. ZigBee Alliance. ZigBee specification. ZigBee Document 053474r17 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Hauer, JH., Handziski, V., Wolisz, A. (2009). Experimental Study of the Impact of WLAN Interference on IEEE 802.15.4 Body Area Networks. In: Roedig, U., Sreenan, C.J. (eds) Wireless Sensor Networks. EWSN 2009. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 5432. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-00224-3_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-00224-3_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-00223-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-00224-3

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics