S2-Movassaghi-2014-Wireless-Body-Area-Networks-A-S

1658IEEECOMMUNICATIONSSURVEYS&TUTORIALS,VOL.16,NO.3,THIRDQUARTER2014WirelessBodyAreaNetworks:ASurveySamanehMovassaghi,StudentMember,IEEE,MehranAbolhasan,SeniorMember,IEEE,JustinLipman,Member,IEEE,DavidSmith,Member,IEEE,andAbbasJamalipour,Fellow,IEEEAbstract—Recentdevelopmentsandtechnologicaladvance-mentsinwirelesscommunication,MicroElectroMechanicalSys-tems(MEMS)technologyandintegratedcircuitshasenabledlow-power,intelligent,miniaturized,invasive/non-invasivemicroandnano-technologysensornodesstrategicallyplacedinoraroundthehumanbodytobeusedinvariousapplications,suchaspersonalhealthmonitoring.ThisexcitingnewareaofresearchiscalledWirelessBodyAreaNetworks(WBANs)andleveragestheemergingIEEE802.15.6andIEEE802.15.4jstandards,specificallystandardizedformedicalWBANs.TheaimofWBANsistosimplifyandimprovespeed,accuracy,andreliabilityofcommunicationofsensors/actuatorswithin,on,andintheimmediateproximityofahumanbody.ThevastscopeofchallengesassociatedwithWBANshasledtonumerouspublications.Inthispaper,wesurveythecurrentstate-of-artofWBANsbasedonthelateststandardsandpublications.OpenissuesandchallengeswithineachareaarealsoexploredasasourceofinspirationtowardsfuturedevelopmentsinWBANs.IndexTerms—IEEE802.15.6,Mediumaccesscontrol,PhysicalLayer,Routing,WirelessBodyAreaNetworks,WirelessSensorNetworksI.INTRODUCTIONWORLDpopulationgrowthisfacingthreemajorchal-lenges[1,2]:demographicpeakofbabyboomers,increaseoflifeexpectancyleadingtoagingpopulationandriseinhealthcarecosts.InAustralia,lifeexpectancyhasincreasedsignificantlyfrom70.8yearsin1960to81.7yearsin2010andintheUnitedStatesfrom69.8yearsin1960to78.2yearsin2010,anaverageincreaseof13.5%1.GiventheU.S.agepyramid2showninFig.1,thenumberofadultsrangingfrom60to80yearsoldin2050isexpectedtobedoublethatoftheyear2000(from33millionto81millionpeople)duetoretirementofbabyboomers3.ItisexpectedthatManuscriptreceivedMarch7,2013;revisedAugust28,2013.NICTAisfundedbytheAustralianGovernmentasrepresentedbytheDepartmentofBroadband,CommunicationsandtheDigitalEconomyandtheAustralianResearchCouncilthroughtheICTCentreofExcellenceprogram.S.MovassaghiandM.AbolhasanarewiththeCentreofRealTimeInformationNetworks(CRIN),SchoolofCommunicationandComputing,FacultyofEngineeringandInformationTechnology,UniversityofTechnology,Sydney,NSW2007,Australia,(e-mail:[e-mail]@uts.edu.au).J.LipmaniswithIntelITLabs,Shanghai,China,(e-mail:[e-mail]).D.B.SmithiswithNationalICTAustralia(NICTA),Canberra,ACT2601,Australia,andalsowithAustralianNationalUniversity(ANU),Canberra,ACT0200,Australia,(e-mail:[e-mail].)A.JamalipouriswithSchoolofElectricalandInformationEn-gineering,UniversityofSydney,NSW,2006,Australia,(e-mail:[e-mail].)DigitalObjectIdentifier10.1109/SURV.2013.121313.000641://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2010/03/08/the-graying-of-america3ficantlyaffectingthequalityoflife.Further,currenttrendsintotalhealthcareexpenditureareexpectedtoreach20%oftheGrossDomesticProduct(GDP)in2022,whichisabigthreattotheUSeconomy.Moreover,theoverallhealthcareexpendituresintheU.S.hassignificantlyincreasedfrom250billionin1980to1.85trillionin2004,eventhough45millionAmericanswereuninsured4.Thesestatisticsnecessitateadramaticshiftincurrenthealthcaresystemstowardsmoreaffordableandscalablesolutions.Ontheotherhand,millionsofpeoplediefromcancer,car-diovasculardisease,Parkinson’s,asthma,obesity,diabetesandmanymorechronicorfataldiseaseseveryyear.Thecommonproblemwithallcurrentfataldiseasesisthatmanypeopleexperiencethesymptomsandhavediseasediagnosedwhenitistoolate.Researchhasshownthatmostdiseasescanbepreventediftheyaredetectedintheirearlystages.Therefore,futurehealthcaresystemsshouldprovideproactivewellnessmanagementandconcentrateonearlydetectionandpreventionofdiseases.Onekeysolutiontomoreaffordableandproactivehealthcaresystemsisthroughwearablemonitoringsystemscapableofearlydetectionofabnormalconditionsresultinginmajorimprovementsinthequalityoflife.Inthiscase,evenmonitoringvitalsignalssuchastheheartrateallowspatientstoengageintheirnormalactivitiesinsteadofstayingathomeorclosetoaspecializedmedicalservice.Thiscanonlybeachievedthroughanetworkconsistingofintelligent,low-power,microandnano-technologysensorsandactuators,whichcanbeplacedonthebody,orimplantedinthehuman42014IEEEMOVASSAGHIetal.:WIRELESSBODYAREANETWORKS:ASURVEY1659body(oreveninthebloodstream),providingtimelydata.SuchnetworksarecommonlyreferredtoasWirelessBodyAreaNetworks.Inadditiontosavinglives,prevalentuseofWBANswillreducehealthcarecostsbyremovingtheneedforcostlyin-hospitalmonitoringofpatients.ThelateststandardizationofWBANs,IEEE802.15.6[3],aimstoprovideaninternationalstandardforlowpower,shortrange(withinthehum