A Comprehensive Survey of Wireless Body Area Networks

  • Authors:

  • Sana Ullah;Henry Higgins;Bart Braem;Benoit Latre;Chris Blondia;Ingrid Moerman;Shahnaz Saleem;Ziaur Rahman;Kyung Sup Kwak

  • Affiliations:

  • UWB-ITRC Research Center, Inha University, Nam-gu Incheon, South Korea;Zarlink Semiconductors, Wiltshire, UK;Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Antwerp/IBBT, Antwerp, Belgium 2020;Department of Information Technology, Ghent University/IBBT, Gent, Belgium 9050;Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Antwerp/IBBT, Antwerp, Belgium 2020;Department of Information Technology, Ghent University/IBBT, Gent, Belgium 9050;UWB-ITRC Research Center, Inha University, Nam-gu Incheon, South Korea;Department of Biological Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, South Korea 305-701;UWB-ITRC Research Center, Inha University, Nam-gu Incheon, South Korea

  • Venue:
  • Journal of Medical Systems
  • Year:
  • 2012

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Abstract

Recent advances in microelectronics and integrated circuits, system-on-chip design, wireless communication and intelligent low-power sensors have allowed the realization of a Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN). A WBAN is a collection of low-power, miniaturized, invasive/non-invasive lightweight wireless sensor nodes that monitor the human body functions and the surrounding environment. In addition, it supports a number of innovative and interesting applications such as ubiquitous healthcare, entertainment, interactive gaming, and military applications. In this paper, the fundamental mechanisms of WBAN including architecture and topology, wireless implant communication, low-power Medium Access Control (MAC) and routing protocols are reviewed. A comprehensive study of the proposed technologies for WBAN at Physical (PHY), MAC, and Network layers is presented and many useful solutions are discussed for each layer. Finally, numerous WBAN applications are highlighted.