A Probe for the Performance of Low-Rate Wireless Personal Area Networks

Abstract

Low-rate wireless personal area networks (LR-WPANs) are characterized by low power consumption, low cost, low computation and low rate, which are based on IEEE 802.15.4 and ZigBee standards. In this article, we first give an overview of the network structure, including its architecture, feasibility and functions. We also analyze several application scenarios with NS-2 simulator, and get some experiment results. For a better view of this kind of network, a preliminary performance evaluation is given according to the results, focusing on the beacon-enabled mode for star-topology and treetopology networks. Our performance evaluation study is to reveals the factors which affect network performance such as association, collision, packet delivery ratio and throughput under different superframe structures and traffic types.