Channel Modelling and Optimization of Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN)

IEEE 802.15.4 is a standard used for low data rate Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs). It offers device level connectivity in applications with limited power and relaxed throughput requirements. Devices with IEEE 802.15.4 technology can be used in many potential applications such as home networking, industry/environments monitoring, healthcare equipments etc. due to its extremely low power features. Medium Access Control layer (MAC) of IEEE 802.15.4 plays an important role in the performance of Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN). The unique feature of this MAC layer is the superframe structure, which allows devices to access channels in a Contention Access Period (CAP) or Collision Free Period (CFP) and use beacon based synchronization mechanism. Performance evaluation study reveals on Throughput and Packet Delivery ratio which are the tradeoffs inherent in this MAC protocol. The proposed work on IEEE 802.15.4 MAC includes the following features: 1) Beacon based mode and non-beacon enabled mode 2) Association tree formation and Network Configuration 3) Orphaning and co-ordinator relocation 4) Carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA-CA), both un-slotted and slotted 5) Direct, indirect and guaranteed time slot (GTS) data transmissions Considering the above factors, strategy is to maximize the Throughput and Packet Delivery ratio for WBAN. This analysis enables the user to choose the suitable 802.15.4 MAC device depending on the health condition of his/her body. Thus depending on the performance different types of devices are designed.