Channel-Dependent Forward Error Correction for IEEE 802.15.4 O-QPSK
Fabian Graf, Thomas Watteyne, Filip Maksimovic, Michael Villnow
IEEE International Conference on Smart Internet of Things (SmartIoT) 14-16, November 2024, Shenzhen, China.
Abstract:
IEEE 802.15.4 has become the de facto standard for
low-power wireless systems in Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
applications. Time Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH) is used in
the O-QPSK PHY version to improve reliability and enhance
resistance to external interference. In this work, we introduce a
MAC layer-based Forward Error Correction (FEC) scheme that
remains compliant with the standard while being lightweight,
due to its use of multiple smaller component codes, which
results in low decoding complexity. This scheme is particularly
suited for sensitive applications that seek to improve packet
delivery ratio (PDR) at the cost of a lower information rate.
We explore Reed-Solomon codes as component codes, analyzing
the scheme’s efficiency from a power consumption standpoint
and its effectiveness in correcting erroneous packets. Testbed
experiments demonstrate a significant boost in reliability, with the
scheme typically recovering from 50% of all erroneous packets,
though at a reduced information rate of 60%. Additionally, we
highlight the benefits of adaptively adjusting the code rate across
channels during runtime, as error patterns can vary not only over
time but also depending on the channel.