A system and method of minimizing interference and retries in an environment where two or more network protocols utilize the same frequency spectrum is disclosed. A lower-power network controller is co-located with a WIFI controller. The lower-power network controller listens for a signature that may indicate the presence of a low power protocol packet, such as BLE or Zigbee. The lower-power controller checks for a waveform that is representative of a Zigbee packet prior to generating a request signal to the WIFI controller. This maximizes the likelihood that no WIFI traffic will occur while the incoming packet is being received.