Assessing the performance of ZigBee in a reverberant environment using a mode stirred chamber

• Published in: 2008 IEEE International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility pp. 1 - 6
• Main Authors: Hope, D., Dawson, J., Marvin, A., Panitz, M., Christopoulos, C., Sewell, P.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.08.2008
• Subjects: Delay; Error analysis; Fading; Frequency measurement; Noise; Reverberation chamber; Zigbee
• ISBN: 9781424416998; 142441699X
• ISSN: 2158-110X; 2158-1118
• DOI: 10.1109/ISEMC.2008.4652116

The application of ZigBee networks to highly reverberant environments has been investigated using a reverberation chamber. Different Q-factors were set up, by loading the reverberation chamber, and the performance of a COTS ZigBee system was recorded . It has been found that the ZigBee system tested is capable of working in highly reverberant environments and is only seriously limited for a value of Q-factor above 5000, which is greater than that which would typically be encountered outside of a laboratory. The packet error rate (PER) was generally found to be very low for Q-factors between 1000 and 5000, with the possibility a high PER for some combinations of stirrer and antenna positions. With a Q of below 1000 the transceivers were found to work with a PER below 1% regardless of antenna and stirrer positions and the corresponding fading is nearly flat over a data symbolpsilas bandwidth. Radio performance is presented in terms of the packet error rate and this is related to the measured and simulated channel impulse response.