Modeling and simulation of voice communication over ad hoc network for search and rescue operations

Voice communication is rapidly gaining importance in low power wireless sensor networks. In search and rescue operations, sensor nodes are deployed to relay information about the environment. This requires low power, low data rate and self-networking protocol, such as ZigBee stack. ZigBee is based on IEEE standard 802.15.4, and supports data rate from 20kbps to 250kbps. This data rate is sufficient to transmit moderate quality voice data. The objective of this paper is to simulate a distributed network model for voice communication using ZigBee using Network Simulator - 2. This paper explores the effectiveness of transmitting voice data over distributed Ad Hoc network. To evaluate the performance of the network, different network parameters such as, throughput, average delay and packet loss ratio are monitored for different voice data rates.