Frequency hopping in IEEE 802.15.4 to mitigate IEEE 802.11 interference and fading

In this paper, we investigate the issues of initialization and deployment of wireless sensor networks(WSNs) under IEEE 802.11 b/g interference and fading channels using frequency hopping(FH). We propose an FH algorithm for WSNs, which is implemented and tested with a pair of nodes employing IPv6 over low power wireless personal area networks(6 LoWPAN) standard.The merits and demerits of the proposed FH scheme in WSNs are studied under strong IEEE 802.11 b/g interference and frequency selective fading channels. We compare the performance results of the proposed FH scheme with those obtained by single-channel radio in WSNs, and show that FH maintains very reliable data rates in the presence of adverse conditions where the single-channel radio fails. We determine a minimum center frequency offset of channels between IEEE 802.15.4 and IEEE 802.11 b/g-based networks, which guarantees the error free network operation of IEEE802.15.4 using a single channel. We design a second FH procedure comprising only four free channels(15, 20, 25, and 26) of IEEE 802.15.4 standard, and show that in the presence of nearby IEEE 802.11 b/g interference, the IEEE 802.15.4 data rate using this method is always 98% and more.