Creating an automated and emulated 802.11g wireless interfering network for wireless coexistence testing

Although the proliferation of wireless medical devices is mounting-partially due to benefits of wireless technology-associated risks must be evaluated. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is asking medical device manufacturers to quantify these by testing their wireless medical devices for coexistence. This can be a tedious and complicated chore. To streamline the process and to disseminate information about wireless coexistence testing, we are undertaking the task of automating the process. One of the most difficult steps in coexistence testing is setting up an interfering network. A major source of interference in the 2.4 GHz ISM band is Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n). This paper informs about tools developed to accurately characterize 802.11g and then emulate an 802.11g access point. Our previous work has shown that by employing a similar period and duty cycle, a signal generator can emulate an interfering 802.11g wireless network during wireless coexistence; however, the outcome performance of the wireless network under test is drastically different. An emulated interfering network must mimic channel characteristics of an actual network, as well as its influence on the wireless network under test. In response to previous findings, we performed wireless coexistence testing and compared the influence of an actual 802.11g wireless network with an emulated interfering 802.11g wireless network. A ZigBee network acted as the wireless network under test.