Analysis and comparison of the IEEE 802.15.4 and 802.15.6 wireless standards based on MAC layer

Abstract

IEEE 802.15.4 and IEEE 802.15.6 are two kinds of wireless area network standards for short range communication applications. IEEE 802.15.4 is proposed for Wireless Person Area Network (WPAN) that provides low data rate, low power, and low cost applications in a short range. Meanwhile, IEEE 802.15.6 is the first international Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) standard, which distributes nodes on or inside a human body, also operates in low power and short range, mainly provides real-time monitoring and human physiological data to judge the human physiological condition. In view of many similarities in both two standards, we analyzed the two standards mainly from the MAC frame format, MAC access mechanisms in this paper. In addition, some discussions of the differences of applications in the two standards were illustrated.