Cross-Technology Interference: Detection, Avoidance, and Coexistence Mechanisms in the ISM Bands

TL;DR

Cross-Technology Interference (CTI) in ISM bands arises when heterogeneous wireless networks with divergent MAC/PHY rules concurrently operate, disproportionately impacting low-power devices such as IEEE 802.15.4 networks. The paper surveys CTI sources, detection methods, avoidance and coexistence strategies, and cross-technology communication schemes that enable coordination across technologies. It covers standards, link-quality metrics, propagation models, and system-level support (notably TSCH and 6TiSCH), and analyzes energy and performance repercussions of CTI. The work provides a comprehensive reference for designing CTI-aware coexistence mechanisms and identifies open issues for practical deployment.

Abstract

A large number of heterogeneous wireless networks share the unlicensed spectrum designated as the ISM (Industry, Scientific, and Medicine) radio band. These networks do not adhere to a common medium access rule and differ in their specifications considerably. As a result, when concurrently active, they cause cross-technology interference (CTI) on each other. The effect of this interference is not reciprocal, the networks using high transmission power and advanced transmission schemes often causing disproportionate disruptions to those with modest communication and computation resources. CTI corrupts packets, incurs packet retransmission cost, introduces end-to-end latency and jitter, and make networks unpredictable. The purpose of this paper is to closely examine its impact on low-power networks which are based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. It discusses latest developments on CTI detection, coexistence and avoidance mechanisms as well on messaging schemes which attempt to enable heterogeneous networks directly communicate with one another to coordinate packet transmission and channel assignment.

Figures (18)

• Figure 1: Water quality monitoring at North Biscayne Bay, Miami, Florida.
• Figure 2: Deployment of an Unmanned Surface Vehicle and a Wireless Sensor Network at North Biscayne Bay, Miami, Florida dargie2024mitigating.
• Figure 3: Link quality fluctuation (in terms of the change in RSSI of received packets) in the absence of any CTI.
• Figure 4: Link quality fluctuation in the absence and presence of a CTI.
• Figure 5: Deployment of an Unmanned Surface Vehicle and a Wireless Sensor Network at one of the Lakes on Florida International University main campus.