On 4/21/06, Vinai Sundaram <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I need to send more than 29 bytes for the application I am working on.
> However, I do not want to increase the payload size so much that it will
> reduce the throughput of the network. Is "29 bytes" found to give close
> to optimal throughput? Are there any empirical/analytical studies that
> suggest a payload size range that would give near-optimal throughput? I
> didn't come across the reason for 29 bytes in any of the documents.

It's historical. The original TinyOS motes had a radio that was
controlled by software at the bit level, and somebody (Jason?) found
that 36 bytes/packet was a good place to be (maximise throughput,
minimise chance of packets getting lost because of software timing
glitches).

That was 30 bytes of payload, 4 bytes of header, and 2 bytes of CRC.
Packets were always 36 bytes.

Then someone added variable-length packets, adding 1 byte (the
length...) to the header. Hence 29 bytes of payload. Still later,
someone added the option for a different payload length, but the
default is 29.

At this point it's still 29 bytes because:
- nobody has bothered to change the default
- it avoids the message buffers taking too much RAM

David Gay

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