Abstract
We consider a typical body area network (BAN) setting in which sensor nodes send data to a common hub regularly on a TDMA basis, as defined by the emerging IEEE 802.15.6 BAN standard. To reduce transmission losses caused by the highly dynamic nature of the wireless channel around the human body, we explore variable TDMA scheduling techniques that allow the order of transmissions within each TDMA round to be decided on the fly, rather than being fixed in advance. Using a simple Markov model of the wireless links, we devise a number of scheduling algorithms that can be performed by the hub, which aim to maximize the expected number of successful transmissions in a TDMA round, and thereby significantly reduce transmission losses as compared with a static TDMA schedule. Importantly, these algorithms do not require a priori knowledge of the statistical properties of the wireless channels, and the reliability improvement is achieved entirely via shuffling the order of transmissions among devices, and does not involve any additional energy consumption (e.g., retransmissions). We evaluate these algorithms directly on an experimental set of traces obtained from devices strapped to human subjects performing regular daily activities, and confirm that the benefits of the proposed variable scheduling algorithms extend to this practical setup as well.
Highlights
Body Area Networks (BAN) are an emerging technology that has attracted attention from researchers in academia and industry due to its significant potential in many different areas including health care, sports, military, and entertainment
Through simulation, based on Gilbert parameter ranges extracted from a set of experimental Received Signal Strength Indicator RSSI traces [12], we evaluate these strategies numerically in terms of the reduction of loss rate as compared with a static TDMA allocation, and uncover a number of important insights
In order to obtain a set of realistic ranges for steady state and volatility values, we have used traces from a publicly available data set that contains experimental RSSI measurements from devices strapped to human subjects performing everyday activities over the course of several days [12]
Summary
Body Area Networks (BAN) are an emerging technology that has attracted attention from researchers in academia and industry due to its significant potential in many different areas including health care, sports, military, and entertainment. BANs exhibit some similarities with other wireless networks, such as the master-slave structure of cellular networks and the low-power requirements of wireless sensor networks. BANs have several characteristics that require a unique approach to the design of physical layer as well as network protocols. One of these is the extreme limitations on power usage (having to last months and even years using minuscule, unobtrusive batteries), which, in combination with the short range and existence of a central hub, lead to novel power-saving techniques [1,2,3,4,5,6]. BANs must cope with deep fading effects that can last much longer (10–300 ms) than similar effects in cellular networks [7,8]
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