Approaches and simulation for receiver sensitivity test of ZigBee module

In the IEEE Standard 802.15.4 for ZigBee, it defines technical specifications and test conditions for receiver sensitivity of ZigBee module. When transmitting ZigBee signals in the air, we find the sensitivity about 20dB worse than the one in standard. This article firstly introduces the test results of sensitivity by different methods, using different generators and transmitting signals in different medium, and then analyze the results. According to the analysis, we test sensitivity of ZigBee module in the shield room and in the microwave darkroom, and find out that the main reason of sensitivity deterioration is multipath effect. At last, we use fading simulator in VSG to simulate the actual ZigBee transmission environment for sensitivity testing.