ADAPTIVE CHANNEL SELECTION BY WIRELESS NODES FOR IMPROVED OPERATING RANGE

Improved message range in a wireless network is achieved by each node performing an energy/noise scan to determine a receiving channel having the lowest noise and/or interference, e.g., best reception conditions, relative to the other channels available in the wireless network. Each node may thereafter scan available channels periodically to adjust its optimal receiving channel if the noise/interference environment changes on its present receiving channel, e.g., noise/interference on another channel is less then the noise on the present receiving channel. When a receiving channel is changed by a node, the wireless node may broadcast this information to notify its neighbor nodes of the change in its receiving channel.