A method comprising: a control panel of an automation system that protects a secured geographic area by actively scanning each of a plurality of radio frequency channels of a predetermined radio frequency spectrum for access points of other automation systems operating under an IEEE802.15.4 format; the control panel receiving and decoding personal network identifiers for any of the access points; the control panel determining a number of the access points operating on each of the plurality of radio frequency channels based on the personal network identifiers; the control panel identifying identified radio frequency channels of the plurality of radio frequency channels on which a number of the access points operating is smallest; the control panel selecting one of the identified radio frequency channels based on a number of the identified radio frequency channels and a lowest relative energy of the identified radio frequency channels received from an energy scan on each of the identified radio frequency channels performed when the number of the identified radio frequency channels is greater than one; the control panel performing an active scan of the one of the identified radio frequency channels to identify the personal network identifiers for any of the access points operating on the one of the identified radio frequency channels; the control panel randomly selecting a unique personal network identifier for the automation system based upon the personal network identifiers for any of the access points operating on the one of the identified radio frequency channels identified from the active scan; and the control panel setting up a wireless connection with each of a plurality of wireless sensors within the secured geographic area on the one of the identified radio frequency channels under the IEEE802.15.4 format. a control panel of an automation system that protects a secured geographic area by actively scanning each of a plurality of radio frequency channels of a predetermined radio frequency spectrum for access points of other automation systems operating under an IEEE802.15.4 format; the control panel receiving and decoding personal network identifiers for any of the access points; the control panel determining a number of the access points operating on each of the plurality of radio frequency channels based on the personal network identifiers; the control panel identifying identified radio frequency channels of the plurality of radio frequency channels on which a number of the access points operating is smallest; the control panel selecting one of the identified radio frequency channels based on a number of the identified radio frequency channels and a lowest relative energy of the identified radio frequency channels received from an energy scan on each of the identified radio frequency channels performed when the number of the identified radio frequency channels is greater than one; the control panel performing an active scan of the one of the identified radio frequency channels to identify the personal network identifiers for any of the access points operating on the one of the identified radio frequency channels; the control panel randomly selecting a unique personal network identifier for the automation system based upon the personal network identifiers for any of the access points operating on the one of the identified radio frequency channels identified from the active scan; and the control panel setting up a wireless connection with each of a plurality of wireless sensors within the secured geographic area on the one of the identified radio frequency channels under the IEEE802.15.4 format.