Title :
A Distributed Scheme to Manage The Dynamic Coexistence of IEEE 802.15.4-Based Health-Monitoring WBANs
Author :
Deylami, Mohammad N. ; Jovanov, Emil
Author_Institution :
Electr. & Comput. Eng. Dept., Univ. of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL, USA
Abstract :
The overlap of transmission ranges between wireless networks as a result of mobility is referred to as dynamic coexistence. The interference caused by coexistence may significantly affect the performance of wireless body area networks (WBANs) where reliability is particularly critical for health monitoring applications. In this paper, we analytically study the effects of dynamic coexistence on the operation of IEEE 802.15.4-based health monitoring WBANs. The current IEEE 802.15.4 standard lacks mechanisms for effectively managing the coexistence of mobile WBANs. Considering the specific characteristics and requirements of health monitoring WBANs, we propose the dynamic coexistence management (DCM) mechanism to make IEEE 802.15.4-based WBANs able to detect and mitigate the harmful effects of coexistence. We assess the effectiveness of this scheme using extensive OPNET simulations. Our results indicate that DCM improves the successful transmission rates of dynamically coexisting WBANs by 20%-25% for typical medical monitoring applications.
Keywords :
Zigbee; body area networks; body sensor networks; medical computing; patient monitoring; IEEE 802.15.4 standard; IEEE 802.15.4-based health-monitoring WBANs; distributed scheme; dynamic coexistence management mechanism; extensive OPNET simulations; medical monitoring applications; mobile WBAN; mobility; reliability; transmission range; transmission rates; wireless body area networks; Brain modeling; Data communication; IEEE 802.15 Standards; Interference; Monitoring; Switches; Wireless personal area networks; Coexistence; IEEE 802.15.4; health monitoring; mobile; wireless body area network (WBAN);
Journal_Title :
Biomedical and Health Informatics, IEEE Journal of
DOI :
10.1109/JBHI.2013.2278217
