Towards interference-aware protocol design in low-power wireless networks

Wireless sensor networks deployed densely for fine-grained monitoring often experience high channel contention from concurrent packet transmission. The main cause of concurrency in these networks is the bursty nature of event-based traffic. Co-channel interference from simultaneous transmission is inevitable in wireless communication, and a better understanding of it is essential for reliable and efficient communication protocol design.;The central thesis of this dissertation is that interference-aware communication protocol design can significantly improve the performance of low-power wireless networks. We substantiate this thesis through four studies. The first is a systematic experimental evaluation of low-power wireless links involving variable transmission power. The second is an implementation of transmission power control with blacklisting which ensures link reliability and low-interference. The third is an analysis of the effects of concurrent packet transmission under single and multiple interferers. And the final study is an evaluation of how power control can be used to improve concurrent communication.;These experimental studies and analyses provide fundamental insights and new guidelines for interference-aware communication protocol design. They show that significant improvement in utilizing constrained wireless channel resources is possible by embracing concurrency through power control and channel capture.