Interference on IEEE 802.15.4 Networks

There has been quite a bit of discussion recently on a paper by Brodsky and McConnell on potential denial of service attacks on IEEE 802.15.4 networks. This paper highlights some simple techniques for attacking these networks and cautions on the use of wireless networks for control systems. Although the paper cautions on the use of any wireless, it has been used by some proponents of frequency hopping as a reason not to use non-frequency hopping systems. This is interesting since the authors discuss intentionally jamming these systems. They note how easy it is to jam the entire 2.4 GHz band which would block single channel or frequency hopping systems.

Attached is a discussion and response to the Brodsky paper.