Probabilistic Model Checking of Contention Resolution in the IEEE 802.15.4 Low-Rate Wireless Personal Area Network Protocol

The international standard IEEE 802.15.4 defines low-rate wireless personal area networks, a central communication infrastructure of pervasive computing. In order to avoid conflicts caused by multiple devices transmitting at the same time, it uses a contention resolution algorithm based on randomised exponential backoff that is similar to the ones used in IEEE 802.3 for Ethernet and IEEE 802.11 for Wireless LAN. We model the protocol using probabilistic timed automata, a formalism in which both nondeterministic and probabilistic choice can be represented. The probabilistic timed automaton is transformed into a finite-state Markov decision process via a property-preserving integral-time semantics. Using the probabilistic model checker PRISM, we verify correctness properties, compare different operation modes of the protocol, and analyse performance and accuracy of different model abstractions.