Design and performance of IEEE 802.15.4 compliant MMSE receivers

IEEE 802.15.4 compliant design forms the basis of ZigBee technology. Intended for low-power, short range sensor networks, these devices are likely to operate in offices and factories: environments with strong multipath channel components. This research introduces a novel adaptive MMSE receiver design for the ISM 2.4 GHz band, comprising a bank of adaptive MMSE correlators. Design concentrates on methods for the efficient training of each correlator and on de-multiplexing the data after the correlation process. Results show a BER performance comparison of the MMSE receiver design with a traditional correlation receiver. Although the adaptive receiver adds complexity to the transceiver, the improved performance could aid coexistence with other technologies or allow a longer range of operation.