Assessing coexistence problems of IEEE 802.11b and IEEE 802.15.4 wireless networks through cross-layer measurements

Coexistence issues between IEEE 802.11b (Wi-Fi) wireless communication networks and IEEE 802.15.4 wireless sensor networks (WSN), operating within the same 2.4 GHz ISM-band, are hereinafter assessed. In particular, meaningful experiments performed through a suitable testbed and a cross-layer measurement approach are presented. Such experiments are executed both at physical layer, through measurements of channel power and signal-to-interference ratio (SIR), and at network/transport layer, by means of packet loss ratio estimations. Different testbed configurations are analyzed, varying characteristics like packet rate, packet size, SIR, network topology and number of wireless nodes. The purpose of the work is to deduce from experiments practical information and guidelines showing how optimizing networks setup and mitigating coexistence problems in some real-life configurations. Practical details about testbed, test environment and performed experiments are provided in the paper.