Data transmission performance for 2.4GHz in-field wireless sensor network

Wireless sensor network (WSN) technology is a promising solution for large-scale, real-time, and continuous soil property data acquisition. However, the applications are still very limited due to a lack of understanding of the WSN in-field data transmission performance. In this study, commercial 2.4GHz wireless sensor modules were used to set up a test platform to evaluate data transmission performance. Indexed packets transmitted from a module were received by another equal module to calculate packet delivery rate (PDR). Experiments were conducted in a wheat field of an experimental farm of Oklahoma State University. Canopy height, transmitter height, receiver height and transmitter-to-receiver distance (T-R distance) were considered as impact factors on data transmission. Correlation analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between path-loss and PDR. The results indicated that, with the increase of the plant height, path-loss and PDR became more correlated with each other. A distance of 70m was defined as a stable communication distance for the 2.4GHz in-field WSN applications.