Interference Detection and Mitigation in IEEE 802.15.4 Networks

Proper frequency planning is essential to enable multiple IEEE 802.15.4 networks to coexist in the same space, otherwise the network performance can be adversely affected due to interference. While this may be feasible for static networks, it is not really an option for mobile networks such as body area networks due to the dynamic nature of these interactions. This work demonstrates one approach to detecting and mitigating interference in IEEE 802.15.4 networks from other 802.15.4 networks. Interference is detected by observing packets from other networks while the mitigation strategy leverages collaboration between interfering networks to determine which network should switch to a different channel. The approach can also work with legacy networks that do not implement this protocol. The system is implemented and demonstrated on Intel Mote2 devices running Tiny OS.