Experimental Investigation of IEEE 802.15.4 Transmission Power Control and Interference Minimization

Although the characteristics of RF transmissions are physically well understood at the lowest levels of communication design, accurately incorporating power and interference effects is one of the most challenging tasks in designing efficient wireless network algorithms. The most noteworthy approaches are the circular transmission and interference "ranges" that do not apply to antennae packages that are not omnidirectional, as well as to non line-of-sight environments of many low power wireless sensor and mesh network. In this paper we experimentally investigate and then model the transmission interference of low power 802.15.4 based transceiver nodes by relying not only on distance but also on the transmit power, orientations, and the relative positions of the transmitter, receiver, and interfering nodes. The experimentally validated power/interference model is then used as the basis for an optimization algorithm that schedules nodes to minimize interference and maximize throughput from a set of senders to a set of receivers.