An Analytical Study of Interference Problem between ZigBee and WI-FI

Wi-Fi and ZigBee wireless technologies share same 2.4 GHz band. However Wi-Fi uses higher power levels compared with ZigBee. When these both technologies are used in a device simultaneously there is data packet loss in communication due to interference between Wi-Fi and ZigBee wireless technologies. This condition raise retransmission of data packets and so delay, mitigation in delivery ratio and power consumption increases for both the technologies. In hand held devices like PDA and Mobile power consumption is a sensitive issue. A precise model for the effect of Interference in both the technologies is essential. In this paper the mutual effect of Wi-Fi Interference on ZigBee Channels by using Castalia simulator and computed the Packet Delivery Rate (PDR) for both ZigBee and Wi-Fi nodes. The result represents that ZigBee has less effect on Wi-Fi Packets while Wi-Fi affects ZigBee Packets with different degrees based on the traffic intensity and number of nodes.