Performance Research of the IEEE 802.15.4 Protocol in Wireless Sensor Networks

Adancement in wireless communications, electronics and embedded technique has enabled the development of low-cost sensor networks. The MAC protocol plays a significant role in determining the performance of communication in wireless sensor networks. IEEE 802.15.4 protocol, a new standard to address the need for low-rate, low-power and low-cost wireless network is introduced and its essential characteristics are described. The performance evaluations of this protocol, including the bandwidth efficient, packet delivery ration and average delay according to peer-to-peer topology, are simulated and analyzed, which are based on the application over wireless sensor networks. Meanwhile, we analyze and compare IEEE 802.11