A survey of research in WBAN for biomedical and scientific applications

Abstract

A review of earlier work on Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) is given here as these networks have gained a lot of research attention in recent years since they offer tremendous benefits for remote health monitoring and continuous, real-time patient care. However, as with any wireless communication, data security in WBANs is a challenging design issue. Since such networks consist of small sensors placed on the human body, they impose resource and computational restrictions, thereby making the use of sophisticated and advanced encryption algorithms infeasible. This calls for the design of algorithms with a robust key generation management scheme, which are reasonably resource optimal. The main purpose of the WBAN is to make it possible for patients who need permanent monitoring to be fully mobile. The WBAN is worn by a patient and basically consists of a set of lightweight devices that monitor and wirelessly transmit certain bio signals (vital signs) to a Backend System at a Healthcare center. A monitoring healthcare specialist retrieves the patient data over a reliable wired connection. The focus is on the wireless technologies Bluetooth and Packet Radio Switching (GPRS), because of their important role of communication. This paper discusses several uses of the WBANs technology, the most obvious application of a WBAN is being in the medical sector. However, there are also more recreational uses to WBANs which are mentioned here. This paper discusses the technologies about WBANs, as well as different applications for WBANs. A survey of the state of the art in Wireless Body Area Networks is given to provide a better understanding of the current research issues in this emerging field.