ISO/IEC/IEEE 8802-15-4:2018

INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC/
STANDARD IEEE
8802-15-4
Second edition
2018-03
Information technology —
Telecommunications and information
exchange between systems — Local
and metropolitan area networks —
Specific requirements —
Part 15-4:
Wireless medium access control
(MAC) and physical layer (PHY)
specifications for low-rate wireless
personal area networks (WPANs)
Technologies de l'information — Télécommunications et échange
d'information entre systèmes — Réseaux locaux et métropolitains —
Exigences spécifiques —
Partie 15-4: Spécifications du contrôle d'accès du milieu sans fil
(MAC) et de la couche physique (PHY) pour les réseaux personnels
sans fil de faible débit (WPAN)
Reference number
©
IEEE 2016
© IEEE 2016
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, or required in the context of its implementation, no part of this publication may
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ii © IEEE 2016 – All rights reserved

Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are members of
ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical committees established
by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical activity. ISO and IEC technical
committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international organizations, governmental and non‐
governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the work. In the field of information technology, ISO
and IEC have established a joint technical committee, ISO/IEC JTC 1.
IEEE Standards documents are developed within the IEEE Societies and the Standards Coordinating
Committees of the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE‐SA) Standards Board. The IEEE develops its standards
through a consensus development process, approved by the American National Standards Institute, which
brings together volunteers representing varied viewpoints and interests to achieve the final product. Volunteers
are not necessarily members of the Institute and serve without compensation. While the IEEE administers the
process and establishes rules to promote fairness in the consensus development process, the IEEE does not
independently evaluate, test, or verify the accuracy of any of the information contained in its standards.
The main task of ISO/IEC JTC 1 is to prepare International Standards. Draft International Standards adopted
by the joint technical committee are circulated to national bodies for voting. Publication as an International
Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the national bodies casting a vote.
Attention is called to the possibility that implementation of this standard may require the use of
subject matter covered by patent rights. By publication of this standard, no position is taken with
respect to the existence or validity of any patent rights in connection therewith. ISO/IEEE is not responsible
for identifying essential patents or patent claims for which a license may be required, for conducting
inquiries into the legal validity or scope of patents or patent claims or determining whether any
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Further information may be obtained from ISO or the IEEE Standards Association.
ISO/IEC/IEEE 8802‐15‐4 was prepared by the LAN/MAN of the IEEE Computer Society (as
IEEE 802.15.4‐2015). It was adopted by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information
technology, Subcommittee SC 6, Telecommunications and information exchange between systems, in
parallel with its approval by the ISO/IEC national bodies, under the “fast‐track procedure” defined in the
Partner Standards Development Organization cooperation agreement between ISO and IEEE. IEEE is
responsible for the maintenance of this document with participation and input from ISO/IEC national bodies.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition (ISO/IEC/IEEE 8802-15-4:2010), which has been
technically revised.
A list of all parts in the ISO/IEC/IEEE 8802 series can be found on the ISO website.
© IEEE 2016 – All rights reserved iii

IEEE Std 802.15.4™-2015
(Revision of
IEEE Std 802.15.4-2011)
IEEE Standard for Low-Rate
Wireless Networks
Sponsor
LAN/MAN Standards Committee
of the
IEEE Computer Society
Approved 5 December 2015
IEEE-SA Standards Board
Abstract: The protocol and compatible interconnection for data communication devices using low-
data-rate, low-power, and low-complexity short-range radio frequency (RF) transmissions in a
wireless personal area network (WPAN) are defined in this standard. A variety of physical layers
(PHYs) have been defined that cover a wide variety of frequency bands.
Keywords: ad hoc network, IEEE 802.15.4™, low data rate, low power, LR-WPAN, mobility, PAN,
personal area network, radio frequency, RF, short range, wireless, wireless personal area network,
WPAN
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All rights reserved. Published 22 April 2016. Printed in the United States of America.
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Print: ISBN 978-1-5044-0854-5 STD20893
PDF: ISBN 978-1-5044-0846-2 STDPD20893
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Participants
At the time this standard was sent to sponsor ballot, the IEEE P802.15 Working Group had the following
voting members:
Robert F. Heile, Chair
Rick Alfvin, Co-Vice Chair
Patrick W. Kinney, Co-Vice Chair
James P. K. Gilb, Working Group Technical Editor
Patrick W. Kinney, Secretary
Patrick W. Kinney, 802.15 Maintenance Committee Chair
Benjamin A. Rolfe, 802.15 Maintenance Committee Vice Chair
James P. K. Gilb, Technical Editor
Shinsuke Hara
Mounir Achir Robert Moskowitz
Keiji Akiyama Timothy Harrington Jinesh P. Nair
Arthur Astrin James Hartman Chiu Ngo
Philip Beecher Marco Hernandez Paul Nikolich
Frederik Beer Ken Hiraga John Notor
Chandrashekhar P. S. Bhat Iwao Hosako Hiroyo Ogawa
Kiran Bynam Yeong Min Jang Taejoon Park
Seong-Soon Joo
Edgar Callaway Glenn Parsons
Chris Calvert Akifumi Kasamatsu Charles Perkins
Radhakrishna Canchi Shuzo Kato Albert Petrick
Kapseok Chang Toyoyuki Kato Clinton C. Powell
Jeritt Kent Verotiana Rabarijaona
Soo-Young Chang
Clint Chaplin Jaehwan Kim Ivan Reede
Stephen Chasko Youngsoo Kim Richard Roberts
Shoichi Kitazawa
Paul Chilton Ruben E. Salazar Cardozo
Sangsung Choi Tero Kivinen Noriyuki Sato
Hendricus de Ruijter Ryuji Kohno Norihiko Sekine
Guido Dolmans Fumihide Kojima Kunal Shah
Thomas Kuerner
Igor Dotlic Stephen Shellhammer
Stefan Drude Byung-Jae Kwak Shusaku Shimada
Dietmar Eggert Jae Seung Lee Gary Stuebing
Shahriar Emami Myung Lee Don Sturek
Andrew Estrada Sangjae Lee Mineo Takai
David Evans Huan-Bang Li Kou Togashi
George Flammer Liang Li Billy Verso
Qing Li
Kiyoshi Fukui Gabriel Villardi
Matthew Gillmore Michael Lynch Brian Weis
Tim Godfrey Itaru Maekawa Makoto Yaita
Elad Gottlib Hiroyuki Matsumura Peter Yee
Michael McLaughlin Yu Zeng
Jussi Haapola
Rainer Hach Michael McInnis Chunhui (Allan) Zhu
Kenichi Mori
Major contributions in the revision process were received from the following individuals:
Philip Beecher Jeritt Kent Benjamin A. Rolfe
Monique Brown Patrick W. Kinney Ruben E. Salazar Cardozo
Edgar Callaway Tero Kivinen Cristina Seibert
Soo-Young Chang Amarjeet Kumar Kunal Shal
James P. K. Gilb Michael McInnis Shusakh Shimada
Tim Godfrey Robert Moskowitz Chin-Sean Sum
Jussi Haapola Clinton C. Powell Larry Taylor
Timothy Harrington Verotiana Rabarijaona Billy Verso
The following members of the individual balloting committee voted on this standard. Balloters may have
voted for approval, disapproval, or abstention.
Rick Alfvin Noriyuki Ikeuchi Yoshihiro Ohba
Nobumitsu Amachi Akio Iso Okundu Omeni
Butch Anton Atsushi Ito Satoshi Oyama
Stefan Aust Raj Jain Stephen Palm
Michael Bahr Oyvind Janbu Arumugam Paventhan
Madhusudan Banavara Michael Johas Teener Dalibor Pokrajac
Philip E. Beecher Adri Jovin Clinton C. Powell
Naveen Kakani
Harry Bims Venkatesha Prasad
Shinkyo Kaku
Gennaro Boggia Verotiana Rabarijaona
Riccardo Brama Piotr Karocki Demir Rakanovic
Nancy Bravin Ruediger Kays R. K. Rannow
Vern Brethour Jeritt Kent Maximilian Riegel
Monique Brown Stuart Kerry Robert Robinson
William Byrd Yongbum Kim Osman Sakr
Brent Cain Patrick W. Kinney Ruben E. Salazar Cardozo
Edgar Callaway Tero Kivinen John Santhoff
Radhakrishna Canchi Fumihide Kojima Naotaka Sato
Bruce Kraemer
Juan Carreon Bartien Sayogo
Yasushi Kudoh Kunal Shah
Suresh Channarasappa
Keith Chow Amarjeet Kumar Shusaku Shimada
Charles Cook Jeremy Landt Suresh Shrimavle
Steven Crowley Hyeong Ho Lee Daniel Smolinski
Sourav Dutta James Lepp Thomas Starai
Richard Edgar Arthur H. Light Rene Struik
David Evans Vincent Lipsio Walter Struppler
Liu Fangfang William Lumpkins Patricia Thaler
Michael Fischer Elvis Maculuba David Thompson
James Marin Ha-Nguyen Tran
Avraham Freedman
Devon Gayle Roger Marks Mark-Rene Uchida
James P. K. Gilb Michael McInnis Lorenzo Vangelista
Gregory Gillooly Michael McLaughlin Dmitri Varsanofiev
Joel Goergen Apurva Mody Prabodh Varshney
Randall Groves Jose Morales Raj Vaswani
Chris Guy Ronald Murias George Vlantis
Rainer Hach Jinesh Nair Khurram Waheed
Timothy Harrington Juichi Nakada Hung-Yu Wei
Michael Newman Brian Weis
Marco Hernandez
Guido Hiertz Chiu Ngo Andreas Wolf
Werner Hoelzl Nick S. A. Nikjoo Oren Yuen
Tetsushi Ikegami Paul Nikolich Daidi Zhong
When the IEEE-SA Standards Board approved this standard on 5 December 2015, it had the following
membership:
John Kulick, Chair
Jon Walter Rosdahl, Vice Chair
Richard H. Hulett, Past Chair
Konstantinos Karachalios, Secretary
Masayuki Ariyoshi Joseph L. Koepfinger* Stephen J. Shellhammer
Ted Burse David J. Law Adrian P. Stephens
Stephen Dukes Hung Ling Yatin Trivedi
Jean-Phillippe Faure Andrew Myles Phillip Winston
J. Travis Griffith T. W. Olsen Don Wright
Gary Hoffman Glenn Parsons Yu Yuan
Michael Janezic Ronald C. Peterson Daidi Zhong
Annette D. Reilly
*Member Emeritus
Historical participants
Many individuals have participated in the IEEE P802.15 Working Group during various stages of the
standard’s development. Since the initial publication, many amendments have added functionality or
updated material in this standard, and now three revisions have been published. Here is a historical list of the
working group participants who dedicated their valuable time, energy, and knowledge to the advancement of
this standard at the time of its original publication and for its revisions. Many of these members also worked
on amendments.
The following members of the IEEE P802.15 Working Group participated in the development of the original
standard, IEEE Std 802.15.4-2003:
Robert F. Heile, Chair
James D. Allen, Vice Chair
Patrick W. Kinney, Secretary
Michael D. McInnis, Assistant Secretary and Editor
Ian C. Gifford, Task Group 1 Chair
Stephen J. Shellhammer, Task Group 2 Chair
John R. Barr, Task Group 3 Chair
Patrick W. Kinney, Task Group 4 Chair
Phil Jamieson, Task Group 4 Vice Chair
José A. Gutierrez, Task Group 4 Editor-in-Chief
Marco Naeve, Task Group 4 Secretary
Monique Bourgeois, MAC Technical Editor
Said Moridi, PHY Technical Editor
Phil Jamieson, Layer Management Technical Editor
Greg Breen, Low-Band PHY Technical Editing
Ed Callaway, Networking Technical Editing
Paul Gorday, High-Band PHY Technical Editing
Marco Naeve, General Description Technical Editing
David Cypher, PICs/SDLs Technical Editing
Robert D. Poor, Coexistence Technical Editing
Farron Dacus, Regulatory Technical Editing
Roberto Aiello Craig Conkling Jeyhan Karaoguz
Anand Dabak
Masaaki Akahane Masami Katagiri
Richard Alfvin Kai Dombrowski Joy H. Kelly
Arun Arunachalam Mary DuVal Stuart J. Kerry
Naiel Askar Michael Dydyk Yongsuk Kim
Venkat I. Bahl Jason L. Ellis Young Hwan Kim
Daniel Bailey Mark W. Fidler Günter Kleindl
Jay Bain Jeff R. Foerster Bruce P. Kraemer
David S. Furuno
James Baker DoHoon Kwon
Jaiganesh Balakrishnan Pierre Gandolfo Jim Lansford
Anuj Batra Atul Garg David Leeper
Timothy Blaney James Gilb Liang Li
Kenneth Boehike Nada Golmie Yeong-Chang Maa
Stan Bottoms Yasuo Harada Steven March
Mark V. Bowles Allen Heberling Ralph Mason
Chuck Brabenac Barry Herold Jim Meyer
Soo-Young Chang Robert Y. Huang Leonard E. Miller
Francois Po_Shin Chin Eran Igler Akira Miura
Aik Chindapol Katsumi Ishii Andreas Molisch
Antonio Mondragon Chandos Rypinski Teik-Kheong Tan
Tony Morelli John H. Santhoff Larry Taylor
Chiu Ngo Mark Schrader Stephen E. Taylor
Kei Obara Tom Schuster Hans vanLeeuwen
Knut Odman Erik Schylander Ritesh Vishwakarma
John B. Pardee Michael Seals Thierry Walrant
Jongun Park Nick Shepherd Jing Wang
Dave Patton Gadi Shor Fijio Watanabe
Marcus Pendergrass William Shvodian Mathew Welborn
Gregg Rasor Thomas Siep Richard Wilson
Ivan Reede Kazimierz Siwiak Stephen Wood
Jim Richards Carl Stevenson Edward G. Woodrow
Glyn Roberts Rene Struik Hirohisa Yamaguchi
Richard Roberts Shigeru Sugaya Amos Young
William Roberts Kazuhisa Takamura Song-Lin Young
Chris Rogers Katsumi Takaoka Nakache Yves-paul
Philippe Rouzet Jim Zyren
Major contributions were received from the following individuals:
Ed Hogervorst
Tony Adamson Niels Schutten
David Archer Stephen Korfhage Nick Shepherd
David Avery Charles Luebke Ari Singer
Venkat Bahl Masahiro Maeda Ralph D’Souza
Daniel Bailey Ian Marsden Carl Stevenson
Edul Batliwala Chris Marshall Mark Tilinghast
Pratik Bose Paul Marshall Hans Van Leeuwen
Boaz Carmeli Fred Martin Jacco van Muiswinkel
Farron Dacus Ralph Mason Luis Pereira
Martin Digon Rod Miller Richard Wilson
Ian C. Gifford Phil Rudland Wim Zwart
The following members of the IEEE P802.15 Working Group participated in the development of the first
revision, IEEE Std 802.15.4-2006:
Robert F. Heile, Chair
James D. Allen, Vice Chair
Patrick W. Kinney, Assistant Vice Chair
James P. K. Gilb, Editor-in-Chief
Patrick W. Kinney, Secretary
Michael D. McInnis, Assistant Secretary and Editor
John R. Barr, Task Group 3b Chair
Reed Fisher, Task Group 3c Chair
Patrick W. Kinney, Task Group 4a Chair
Myung Lee, Task Group 5 Chair
Robert D. Poor, Task Group 4b Chair
Marco Naeve, Task Group 4b Vice Chair
Monique B. Brown, Task Group 4b Editor-in-Chief
Eric T. Gnoske, Task Group 4b Secretary
Philip E. Beecher, MAC Contributing Editor
Monique B. Brown, MAC Technical Editor
Edgar H. Callaway, Jr., MAC Contributing Editor
Francois Chin, PHY Contributing Editor
Robert C. Cragie, MAC/Security Contributing Editor
Paul Gorday, PHY Contributing Editor
James P. K. Gilb, Draft D3 Editor-in-Chief
Øyvind Janbu, MAC/PHY/Security Contributing Editor
Marco Naeve, General Description/PICS Editor, MAC Contributing Editor
Clinton C. Powell, PHY Technical Editor
Joseph Reddy, Security Contributing Editor
Zachary Smith, MAC Contributing Editor
René Struik, Security Contributing Editor
Andreas C. Wolf, PHY Contributing Editor
Tian-Wei Huang
Roberto Aiello Philip Orlik
Hideto Ikeda Laurent Ouvry
Richard Alfvin
Mikio Aoki Tetsushi Ikegami John Pardee
Takashi Arita Adrian Jennings Nirmalendu Patra
Ho-In Jeon
Larry Arnett Dave Patton
Arthur Astrin Tzyy Hong Jiang Xiaoming Peng
Yasaman Bahreini David Julian Tony Pollock
Jeyhan Karaoguz
Jay Bain Vidyasagar Premkumar
Michael Kelly Yihong Qi
Alan Berkema
Bruce Bosco Stuart Kerry Raad Raad
Mark Bowles Jae-Hyon Kim Pekka Ranta
Jaeyoung Kim
Charles Brabenac Dani Raphaeli
David Brenner Jinkyeong Kim Gregg Rasor
Vern Brethour Yongsuk Kim Charles Razzell
Kursat Kimyacioglu
Ronald Brown Ivan Reede
Matthias Kindler Yuko Rikuta
Bill Carney
Kuor-Hsin Chang Guenter Kleindl Terry Robar
Jonathon Cheah Ryuji Kohno Glyn Roberts
Mike Krell
Kwan-Wu Chin Richard Roberts
Sarm-Goo Cho Yasushi Kudo Benjamin A. Rolfe
Sungsoo Choi Akiomi Kunisa Philippe Rouzet
Yun Choi Yuzo Kuramochi Chandos Rypinski
Jiun-You Lai
Chun-Ting Chou Ali Sadri
Manoj Choudhary Ismail Lakkis Saeid Safavi
Celestino Corral John Lampe Zafer Sahinoglu
Kyung Kuk Lee
Joe Decuir Tomoki Saito
Wooyong Lee Syed Saleem
Javier Del Prado Pavon
Kai Dombrowski David Leeper Kamran Sayrafian
Stefan Drude Huan-Bang Li Jean Schwoerer
Haixiang Liang
Amal Ekbal Erik Schylander
Jason Ellis Ian Macnamara Alireza Seyedi
Shahriar Emami Akira Maeki Sanjeev Sharma
Patricia Martigne
Paul Everest Siddharth Shetty
Abbie Mathew
Mark W. Fidler John Shi
Kris Fleming Taisuke Matsumoto Shusaku Shimada
Amir Freund Gustaf Max Yuichi Shiraki
Michael McLaughlin
Camillo Gentile Gadi Shor
Ian Gifford Charlie Mellone William Shvodian
Sung-Wook Goh Klaus Meyer Thomas Siep
Sorin Goldenberg Samuel Mo Michael Sim
Andreas Molisch
Vivek Gupta Kazimierz Siwiak
Rainer Hach Mark Moore V. Somayazulu
Robert Hall Ken Naganuma Amjad Soomro
Yves-Paul Nakache
Shinsuke Hara Carl Stevenson
Hiroyuki Nakase Kazuaki Takahashi
Jeff Harris
Allen Heberling Saishankar Nandagopalan Kenichi Takizawa
Eric Heinze Chiu Ngo Teik-Kheong Tan
Erwin Noble
Barry Herold Mike Tanahashi
Keisuke Higuchi John O’Conor Yasushi Tanaka
Jin-Meng Ho Knut Odman James Taylor
Hiroyo Ogawa
Patrick Houghton Arnaud Tonnerre
Yasuyuki Okuma
Robert Huang Ichihiko Toyoda
Jerry Upton Gerald Wineinger Su-Khiong Yong
Bart Van Poucke Patrick Worfolk Zhan Yu
Chris Weber Tracy Wright Serdar Yurdakul
Matthew Welborn Hirohisa Yamaguchi Mahmoud Zadeh
Magnus Wiklund Kamya Yekeh Yazdandoost Bin Zhen
Major contributions in the revision process were received from the following individuals:
Jon Adams Colin Lanzl Huai-Rong Shao
Helmut P. Adamski Myung Lee Mark Shea
Jonathan Avey Zhongding Lei Stephen J. Shellhammer
Jon Beniston Liang Li Mark A. Tillinghast
Bernd Grohmann Yong Liu Johannes Van Leeuwen
Frederick Martin Richard Wilson
José A. Gutierrez
Jesper Holm Frank Poegel Ping Xiong
ZhiJian Hu Matthias Scheide Bing Xu
Phil A. Jamieson D. C. Seward ChenYang Yang
Yuen-Sam Kwok Chunhui Zhu
The following members of the IEEE P802.15 Working Group participated in the development of the second
revision, IEEE Std 802.15.4-2011:
Robert F. Heile, Chair
Rick Alfvin, Co-Vice Chair
Patrick W. Kinney, Co-Vice Chair
James P. K. Gilb, Working Group Technical Editor
Patrick W. Kinney, Secretary
James P. K. Gilb, Task Group 4i Chair and Technical Editor
Ruben E. Salazar Cardozo
Emad Afifi John Farserotu
Gahng-Seop Ahn Douglas Castor Jeffrey Fischbeck
Roberto Aiello Jaesang Cha Mike Fischer
Arthur Astrin Russell Chandler George Flammer
Kuor-Hsin Chang Ryosuke Fujiwara
Taehan Bae
Michael Bahr Soo-Young Chang Noriyasu Fukatsu
John Barr Clint Chaplin Kiyoshi Fukui
Hind Chebbo
Anuj Batra John Geiger
Tuncer Baykas Chang-Soon Choi Gregory Gillooly
Philip E. Beecher Sangsung Choi Tim Godfrey
Ashutosh Bhatia Ciaran Connell Paul Gorday
David Cypher
Ghulam Bhatti Elad Gottlib
Gary Birk Matthew Dahl Robert Hall
Mathew Boytim David Davenport Shinsuke Hara
Peter David Bradley Mark Dawkins Hiroshi Harada
Hendricus de Ruijter Timothy Harrington
Nancy Bravin
David Britz Upkar Dhaliwal Rodney Hemminger
Monique B. Brown Gang Ding Marco Hernandez
Paul Dixon
Sverre Brubk Garth Hillman
Brian Buchanan Guido Dolmans Jin-Meng Ho
John Buffington Igor Dotlic Wei Hong
Kiran Bynam Michael Dow Srinath Hosur
Dietmar Eggert David Howard
Brent Cain
Edgar H. Callaway David Evans Jung-Hwan Hwang
Chris Calvert Charles Farlow Taeho Hwang
Robert Moskowitz Steve Shearer
Ichirou Ida
Tetsushi Ikegami Hamilton Moy Stephen Shellhammer
Akio Iso Peter Murray Shusaku Shimada
Theodore Myers
Yeong Min Jang Chang Sub Shin
Adrian Jennings Chiu Ngo Cheol Ho Shin
Wuncheol Jeong Paul Nikolich Michael Sim
Hirohito Nishiyama
Steven Jillings Jonathan Simon
David Olson Jaeseung Son
Noh-Gyoung Kang
Tae-Gyu Kang Okundu Omeni Paul Stadnik
Shuzo Kato Ryoji Ono René Struik
Laurent Ouvry
Tatsuya Kato Chin-Sean Sum
Jeritt Kent James Pace Hui-Hsia Sung
Prithpal Khakuria Hyung-Il Park Gu Sungi
Dae Ho Kim Jahng Park Kenichi Takizawa
Seung-Hoon Park
Dong-Sun Kim Hirokazu Tanaka
Dukhyun Kim Taejoon Park Larry Taylor
Jaehwan Kim Ranjeet Patro Mark Thompson
Al Petrick
Jeffrey King James Tomcik
Dalibor Pokrajac Ichihiko Toyoda
Ryuji Kohno
Fumihide Kojima Daniel Popa David Tracey
Bruce Kraemer Stephen Pope Khanh Tran
Clinton C. Powell
Raymond Krasinski Jerry Upton
Masahiro Kuroda Richard Powell Jana van Greunen
John Lampe Chang-Woo Pyo Hartman van Wyk
Mohammad Rahman
Zhou Lan Michel Veillette
Sridhar Rajagopal Billy Verso
Khanh Le
Cheolhyo Lee Jayaram Ramasastry Bhupender Virk
Hyungsoo Lee Marc Reed Joachim Walewski
Ivan Reede
Myung Lee Junyi Wang
Daniel Lewis Richard Roberts Quan Wang
Huan-Bang Li Craig Rodine Xiang Wang
Liang Li June Chul Roh Andy Ward
Benjamin A. Rolfe Scott Weikel
Sang-Kyu Lim
Jeremy Link Seung-Moon Ryu Nicholas West
Mike Lynch Didier Sagan Mark Wilbur
Kentaro Sakamoto
Robert Mason Ludwig Winkel
Tomokuni Matsumura Will San Filippo Eun Tae Won
Jeff McCullough H. Sanderford Alan Chi Wai Wong
Michael McGillan Kamran Sayrafian Tao Xing
Timothy Schmidl
Michael D. McInnis Wen-Bin Yang
Michael McLaughlin Michael Schmidt Yang Yang
Charles Millet Jean Schwoerer Kazuyuki Yasukawa
Cristina Seibert
Siamak Mirnezami Kamya Yazdandoost
Neal Seidl Kaoru Yokoo
Rishi Mohindra
Emmanuel Monnerie Kunal Shah Mu Zhao
Rajendra Moorti Bin Zhen
Major contributions in the revision process were received from the following individuals:
Philip E. Beecher Clint Chaplin Clinton C. Powell
Vern Brethour James P. K. Gilb Benjamin A. Rolfe
Monique B. Brown Patrick W. Kinney Timothy Schmidl
Edgar H. Callaway Michael D. McInnis René Struik
Kuor-Hsin Chang Billy Verso
Introduction
This introduction is not part of IEEE Std 802.15.4™-2015, IEEE Standard for Low-Rate Wireless Networks.
This is the third revision of IEEE Std 802.15.4. From the beginning, the goal of the IEEE P802.15 Working
Group was to produce a standard that enabled very low-cost, low-power communications. The initial
standard, IEEE Std 802.15.4-2003, defined two optional physical layers (PHYs), operating in different
frequency bands with a simple and effective medium access control (MAC).
In 2006, the standard was revised and added two more PHY options. The MAC remained backward
compatible, but the revision added MAC frames with an increased version number and a variety of MAC
enhancements, including the following:
— Support for a shared time base with a data time stamping mechanism
— Support for beacon scheduling
— Synchronization of broadcast messages in beacon-enabled personal area networks (PANs)
— Improved MAC layer security
In 2011, the standard was revised to include the three amendments approved subsequent to the 2006
revision. This effort added four more PHY options along with the MAC capability to support ranging.
Additionally, the organization of the standard was changed so that each PHY would have a separate clause,
and the MAC clause was split into functional description, interface specification, and security specification.
The current revision of the standard was created to roll in the amendments approved subsequent to the 2011
revision: six PHY amendments and one MAC amendment, with corrigenda and clarifications. The features
added by the amendments include the following:
— Enhanced frame formats maintaining backward compatibility
— Information Elements (IEs)
— Channel agility
— Extended superframe options
— Low-energy mechanisms
— An enhanced acknowledgment frame that can carry data and can be secured
— Prioritized channel access
— A variety of new PHY modulation, coding, and band options to support a wide variety of application
needs including radio frequency identification (RFID), smart utility networks (SUNs), television
white space (TVWS) operation, low-energy critical infrastructure monitoring (LECIM), and rail
communications and control (RCC).
Much of the corrigenda and clarifications were collected from requests from individuals after the revision in
2011. Major corrigenda items included changes to the security text to correct errors and clarify the text,
removal of the encrypt only mode, addition of security policy checks for the IEs, corrections regarding
personal area network identifier (PAN ID) compression behavior to eliminate ambiguous specification, and
changes to the IEs subclauses to include more information necessary for users of this standard.
The Project Authorization Request (PAR) for IEEE Std 802.15.4-2015 was first proposed in July 2013 and
was approved in October 2013 by IEEE’s New Standards Committee (NesCom). After three working group
ballots and two sponsor ballots, the final standard was approved in December 2015, just over two years from
start to finish.
Contents
1. Overview. 35
1.1 Scope. 35
1.2 Purpose. 35
2. Normative references. 36
3. Definitions, acronyms, and abbreviations. 37
3.1 Definitions . 37
3.2 Acronyms and abbreviations . 38
4. Format conventions. 42
4.1 General. 42
4.2 Fields. 42
4.3 Numbers. 43
4.4 Strings . 43
4.5 Reserved fields and values. 43
5. General description . 44
5.1 Introduction. 44
5.2 Special application spaces . 44
5.2.1 Smart utility network (SUN). 44
5.2.2 Rail communications and control (RCC). 44
5.2.3 Television white space (TVWS). 45
5.2.4 Radio frequency identification (RFID). 45
5.2.5 Low-energy, critical infrastructure monitoring (LECIM) . 45
5.2.6 Medical body area network (MBAN) services . 45
5.3 Components of the IEEE 802.15.4 WPAN. 45
5.4 Multi-PHY management (MPM) of the SUN WPAN. 45
5.5 Network topologies. 46
5.5.1 Star network formation . 46
5.5.2 Peer-to-peer network formation. 47
5.6 Architecture . 48
5.6.1 PHY . 49
5.6.2 MAC sublayer. 49
5.7 Functional overview . 50
5.7.1 Superframe structure.50
5.7.1.1 Beacon superframe . 50
5.7.1.2 DSME multi-superframe structure. 51
5.7.1.3 Slotframes . 51
5.7.1.4 TMCTP superframe . 51
5.7.2 Data transfer model. 52
5.7.2.1 Types of data transfer models. 52
5.7.2.2 Data transfer to a coordinator . 52
5.7.2.3 Data transfer from a coordinator. 52
5.7.2.4 Peer-to-peer data transfers . 53
5.7.3 Frame structure . 53
5.7.4 Access methods. 53
5.7.4.1 Frame acknowledgment. 53
5.7.4.2 Frak . 54
5.7.4.3 Data verification . 54
5.7.5 Power consumption considerations . 54
5.7.5.1 Low-energy mechanisms . 54
5.7.6 Security . 55
5.8 Concept of primitives. 56
5.9 Deprecation of features.
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