A performance enhancement of IEEE 802.15.4 standard to overcome hidden nodes effect on low data rate ad hoc WSNs

The low data rate ad hoc wireless sensor network over IEEE 802.15.4 protocol has been implemented as an alternative to overcome network bottleneck problem. Unlike IEEE 802.11 protocol that allows RTS/CTS method, the former protocol does not include mechanism to avoid hidden nodes problem. This paper elaborates an evaluation study of hidden nodes effect on the proposed network. Comparison study is also performed to investigate network overhead on ad hoc networks over IEEE 802.11. The performance evaluation by simulation approach is based on 4-key performance indicators such as throughput, packet delivery fraction, delay, and overhead ratio. Simulation results indicate that preventing hidden nodes effect by implementing RTS/CTS mechanism is not suitable for IEEE 802.15.4 which is dedicated to low data rate wireless sensor networks.