Experimental Study of the Impact of WLAN Interference on IEEE 802.15.4 Body Area Networks
Jan-Hinrich Hauer18
, Vlado Handziski18
and Adam Wolisz18 
| (18) |
Telecommunication Networks Group, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany |
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.
Keywords Body Area Networks - IEEE 802.15.4 - 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).
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