Measuring effective capacity of IEEE 802.15.4 beaconless mode

IEEE 802.15.4 is an emerging wireless standard addressing the needs of Low-Rate Wireless Personal Area Networks with a focus on enabling various pervasive and ubiquitous applications that require interactions with our surrounding environments. In view of the application potential of IEEE 802.15.4, knowing the fundamental network properties soon becomes essential in fasten the interactivity between these devices. Among all, knowing effective capacity of a path in wireless networks is of particular importance in routing and traffic management. In this paper, we implement SenProbe, a recently proposed path capacity estimation tool specially designed for the multi-hop ad hoc wireless environment. We present an implementation of SenProbe in Sensor Operating System (SOS), and evaluate the behavior/effectiveness of SenProbe in various testbed setups; including an interfered setting that cannot be simulated. Experiment results validate the workings of SenProbe and offer insights into how the capacity of a wire-less path changes in real wireless environments. Our efforts provide a basis for realistic results that can be of assistance in activities such as capacity planning, protocol design, performance analysis, and etc.