An adaptive energy efficient MAC protocol for the medical body area network

Medical body area networks will employ both implantable and bodyworn devices to support a diverse range of applications with throughputs ranging from several bits per hour up to 10 Mbps. The challenge is to accommodate this range of applications within a single wireless network based on a suitably flexible and power efficient medium access control protocol. To this end, we present a Medical Medium Access Control (MedMAC) protocol for energy efficient and adaptable channel access in body area networks. The MedMAC incorporates a novel synchronisation mechanism and initial power efficiency simulations show that the MedMAC protocol outperforms the IEEE 802.15.4 protocol for two classes of medical applications.