Coverage overlapping problems in applications of IEEE 802.15.4 wireless sensor networks

IEEE 802.15.4 standard is a relatively new standard designed for low power low data rate wireless sensor networks (WSN), which has a wide range of applications, e.g., environment monitoring, e-health, home and industry automation. In this paper, we investigate the problems of hidden devices in coverage overlapped IEEE 802.15.4 WSNs, which is likely to arise when multiple 802.15.4 WSNs are deployed closely and independently. We consider a typical scenario of two 802.15.4 WSNs with partial coverage overlapping and propose a Markov-chain based analytical model to reveal the performance degradation due to the hidden devices from the coverage overlapping. Impacts of the hidden devices and network sleeping modes on saturated throughput and energy consumption are modeled. The analytic model is verified by simulations, which can provide the insights to network design and planning when multiple 802.15.4 WSNs are deployed closely.