Performance Analysis of the IEEE 802.15.4 Protocol for Smart Environments under Jamming Attacks

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Electrical Engineering
• Network Security

Background:

• Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are crucial for smart environments.
• Jamming attacks pose a significant threat to WSN security and stability.
• Evaluating WSN performance under jamming is essential for reliable smart systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and utilize an experimental testbed for analyzing WSN performance under jamming attacks.
• To assess the impact of jamming on key metrics like goodput, packet receive rate (PRR), and energy consumption.
• To understand the risks jamming poses to users and networks in smart scenarios.

Main Methods:

• Developed an experimental testbed to simulate jamming attacks on WSNs using IEEE 802.15.4 CSMA/CA.
• Evaluated performance metrics including goodput, PRR, and energy consumption under constant and reactive jamming.
• Correlated experimental measurements with analytical models for signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) analysis.

Main Results:

• Constant and reactive jamming severely impact WSN performance metrics and RSS variance.
• With one interferer and SINR > 4.5 dB, PRR is ~0.99 and goodput is 3.05 Kbps, but performance degrades with more interferers.
• Reactive jamming strategies demonstrate superior energy efficiency compared to constant jamming.

Conclusions:

• The proposed testbed provides valuable insights into jamming attack effects on WSNs in real-world smart environments.
• Understanding jamming impacts is critical for enhancing the security and reliability of smart environment platforms.
• The study quantifies performance degradation and energy implications, aiding in risk assessment and mitigation strategies.