Abstract-For the first time, this paper presents an analysis of the performance of the IEEE 802.15.4 low power, low data rate wireless standard in relation to medical sensor body area networks. This is an emerging application of wireless sensor networking with particular performance constraints, including power consumption, physical size, robustness and security. In the analysis presented, the star network configuration of the 802.15.4 standard at 2.4 GHz was considered for a body area network consisting of a wearable or desk mounted coordinator outside of the body with up to 10 body implanted sensors. The main consideration in this work was the long-term power consumption of devices, since for practical reasons, implanted medical devices and sensors must function for at least 10 to 15 years without battery replacement. The results show that when properly configured, 802.15.4 can be used for medical sensor networking when configured in non-beacon mode with low data rate asymmetric traffic. Beacon mode may also be used, but with more severe restrictions on data rate and crystal tolerance.
The IEEE 802.15.4 MAC protocol was designed for low-data-rate applications and is the most commonly used MAC protocol in wireless sensor networks to support low power and low data rate in cases where latency and bit rate are not critical REF .
Analysis of the performance of IEEE 802.15.4 for medical sensor body area networking
2004 First Annual IEEE Communications Society Conference on Sensor and Ad Hoc Communications and Networks, 2004. IEEE SECON 2004.
2004 First Annual IEEE Communications Society Conference on Sensor and Ad Hoc Communications and Networks, 2004. IEEE SECON 2004.
Computer Science