Analysis of the interference between IEEE 802.11b and Bluetooth systems

The number of wireless Ethernet products based on the IEEE 802.11b technology has been growing rapidly for the past few years. Bluetooth is an emerging technology with the potential to equal the popularity of wireless local area networks (WLAN). Even though the systems are designed for different purposes, it is very likely for them to operate in the vicinity of each other. Since both systems operate in the same frequency band, this will cause interference between them. A model is developed that captures the performance impact of Bluetooth interference on the collocated IEEE 802.11b, parameterized by the data rate and packet size of 802.11b, the number of Bluetooth piconets, the piconet utilization, and the distance between the 802.11b and the Bluetooth radios. The analysis comprises interference at both physical and medium access control layers of the 802.11b systems.