868MHz 6LoWPAN with ContikiMAC for an Internet of Things environmental sensor network

When deploying an Internet of Things Environmental Sensor Network (ESN), the communications range of nodes becomes a critical factor when attempting to cover a large geographic area. The 2.4 GHz radios that are commonly used for Wireless Sensor Networks do not have sufficient range for ESN applications. We investigate the performance of an 868MHz CC1120-based sensor node that incorporates a Zolertia Z1 and runs the Contiki operating system with multi-hop 6LoWPAN networking using the ContikiMAC radio duty cycling protocol. Comparisons with the commonly-used CC2420 2.4GHz radio, in terms of latency and throughput, show that the CC1120 can offer significant performance benefits for certain deployment scenarios. Brief details of an ongoing deployment are presented.