Deployment and performance issues of an Integrated Wireless Sensor Network and wireless mesh campus network

Empirical results from a performance study of an Integrated Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) are presented in this paper. Integration of heterogeneous wireless technologies using different modulation techniques such as direct-sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) require careful deployment planning and configuration if network performance is to be optimized. The impact on network performance of the WLAN and WSN is investigated through a series of experiments on the Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT) campus network under realistic load conditions. Novel software tools from Motorola are used in this research for fast efficient deployment of WLAN's. These software tools utilize satellite maps of the deployment area to predict coverage and range. Combined with management tools for integrated channel assignment, this should provide performance enhancement capabilities. Our findings show that at least more than four channels of WSN were under interference when WSN and WLAN coexisted. The expression for a channel assignment model is adapted from Chowdhury et al [1]. The reference power variables were taken from IEEE802.11g under real traffic loading with eight channels being considered. Achieving effective channel allocation for WSNs offers better performance due to less retransmission and inherently reduces energy consumption. This paper will be of interest to organisations where critical information retrieval over wide area networks in hostile environments (such as disaster recovery situations) is required as well as traditional network deployments.