IEEE 802.11 and Bluetooth coexistence analysis methodology

As unlicensed (UL) band utilization for daily office functions increases, an understanding of how different wireless services, operating in the same band, may impact each other becomes an important issue. Both Bluetooth wireless personal area networks and IEEE 802.11 wireless local area networks share the same 2.4 GHz UL band and provide complimentary wireless solutions for connectivity. A method was developed for examining wireless services coexistence in order to evaluate the impact interference may have on network performance. The methodology for the analysis was centered on deriving a closed form solution for the probability of collision in terms of the network and radio propagation parameters. The approach is illustrated by examining the coexistence between 802.11b and Bluetooth within typical operational ranges for both network traffic and RF environments.