Measurements in harsh RF propagation environments to support performance evaluation of wireless sensor networks

The purpose of this paper is to describe common methods for evaluating the performance of wireless devices such as wireless sensors in harsh radio environments.

The paper describes how measurements of real‐world propagation environments can be used to support the evaluation process, then presents representative measurement data from multipath environments where sensor networks are likely to be deployed: a fixed‐infrastructure, process‐control environment (here an oil refinery), and a heavy industrial environment (here an automotive assembly plant).

Results on the characterization of multipath in the propagation channel are summarized and how these results may be used in the performance evaluation of sensor networks is discussed.

The paper describes measurement results from environments where little open‐literature data exists on point‐to‐point propagation, specifically high‐multipath environments. These highly reflective scenarios can present difficulties for deployment of sensor networks.