If You Can't Take the Heat: Temperature Effects on Low-Power Wireless Networks and How to Mitigate Them

Low-power wireless networks, especially in outdoor deployments, are exposed to a wide range of temperatures. The detrimental effect of high temperatures on communication quality is well known. In this paper, we use a testbed with self-made temperature control devices to investigate the effects of temperature on several communication-relevant metrics. The analyses both confirm some previously published results and demonstrate deviations from others. Based on these results, we propose a Reed-Solomon-based FEC scheme to mitigate the negative effects of temperature and provide results suggesting that such a scheme is both feasible and advantageous.