Study and Analysis of Scientific Scopes, Issues and Challenges towards Developing a Righteous Wireless Body Area Network
Shah Murtaza Rashid Al Masud
Shah Murtaza Rashid Al Masud, Department of Computer Science, Najran University, Najran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Manuscript received on April 05, 2013. | Revised Manuscript received on April 28, 2013. | Manuscript published on May 05, 2013. | PP: 243-251 | Volume-3, Issue-2, May 2013. | Retrieval Number: B1433053213/2013©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Published By: Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: The escalating applies of wireless networks and the constant tininess of electrical devices have empowered the development of Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN). In this network various sensors are attached on clothing or on the body or even implanted under the skin. This network enables medical doctor to distantly monitor essential signs and organs of patients and provide real time opinions for medical diagnosis. The numerous new, realistic and ground-breaking applications of WBAN facilitate to advance health care and the quality of life. By means of a WBAN, the patient experiences a superior and greater physical mobility and is no longer constrained to reside in the hospital. The amalgamation of low-power, miniaturized, lightweight sensors nodes lead to the development of a proactive and unobtrusive Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN). A WBAN presents a long term health monitoring of a patient devoid of any restriction on his/her normal daily life activities. It is the easiest and fastest way to monitor patient’s health status effectively. Although WBAN is the efficient way to diagnose patients existing condition but the challenges related to developing an effective WBAN is not studied and analyzed significantly. The effectiveness of the WBAN strongly depends on controlling the energy consumption of sensor nodes. To achieve energy efficiency, low duty cycle MAC protocols are used. In this paper, we discuss about the basic idea and key components of WBAN, basic difference between wireless sensor networks (WSN) and WBAN, technical challenges, and its importance, quality of service (QoS) and security, analysis of MAC features, various applications, different sensors; physiological signals, their frequency; different data rate, latency of WBANs, issues related to energy or power efficiency, and existing WBAN technologies.Finally, the open research issues and challenges are also pointed out.
Keywords: WBAN, WSN, MAC, QoS, Energy efficiency.