FreeBee: Cross-technology Communication via Free Side-channel

Abstract

This paper presents FreeBee, which enables direct unicast as well as cross-technology/channel broadcast among three popular wireless technologies: WiFi, ZigBee, and Bluetooth. Our design aims to shed the light on the opportunities that cross-technology communication has to offer including, but not limited to, cross-technology cooperation and coordination. The key concept of FreeBee is to modulate symbol messages by shifting the timing of periodic beacon frames already mandatory for wireless standards without incurring extra traffic. Such a generic cross-technology design consumes zero additional bandwidth, allowing continuous broadcast to safely reach mobile and/or duty-cycled devices. A new \emph{interval multiplexing} technique is proposed to enable concurrent broadcasts from multiple senders or boost the transmission rate of a single sender. Theoretical and experimental exploration reveals that FreeBee offers a reliable symbol delivery under a second and supports mobility of 30mph and low duty-cycle operations of under 5%.