Performance Analysis of Medium Access Control Protocol for Wireless Body Area Networks

In recent years, very interesting researches are concentrated to develop patient monitoring systems for revolutionizing health monitoring. A wireless body area network (WBAN) needs a MAC protocol, which obey to the BAN requirements and specifications. The design of a medium access control is a challenge due to the characteristics of wireless channel and the need for minimization of consumption. For medical applications, WBAN should collect and transmit information of patient in a reliable manner and in a timely manner to monitoring entity. In this paper, we present the specifications and characteristics of medium access protocols for WBAN. A showing of the most efficient MAC protocols and some simulations results are presented to further illustrate the performance of the three MAC protocols namely IEEE 802.15.4 (Zigbee MAC), TMAC and IEEE 802.15.6 (Baseline MAC).