Body Area Network

Wireless Body Area Network ( WBAN ) is a specialized network concept in the context of IEEE 802.15.4 (WPAN, Wireless Personal Area Network) for a single person as the support of communication devices. With this concept, a connection of body-worn medical sensors and actuators is achieved, whereby involved in a network only the devices for any one carrier. Actuators must be authorized according to the rules for medical devices.

Transmission method

The transmission method used set because of the short range and the low penetration of the body usually 2.45 GHz microwaves at low power levels up to 10 mW one, which can be used completely harmless. The most common transmission method relies on the Bluetooth standard version 2.1. Other transmission methods are used in sports. Reason was initially the high battery consumption and slow connecting to Bluetooth, which offers a new and competitive with the other methods connectionless feature only since version V4.0 Low Energy.

History

First, the wired Body Area Network ( BAN) designed for data acquisition in telemedicine in the health and allied health treatments. The wireless advancement Wireless Body Area Network ( WBAN ) as an ad -hoc network of body-hugging data acquisition corresponds in function to the BAN with the difference that the body sensors are wireless as wireless sensors. In particular, the administrative costs are low and the components so easy to handle even for beginners.

The basics and first steps of a BAN that uses the capacitive near field of the skin for data transmission were in 1995 at the MIT Media Lab researches and publishes, among others by Thomas G. Carpenter, David Allport, Neil Gershenfeld and.

For use in the medical field since 1998, made ​​for example by the Fraunhofer -Gesellschaft further developments of this network concept. Then, a first, working prototype to the Body Area Network was created in 2001. This was presented at the MEDICA 2001, and at MEDTEC 2002 and CeBIT 2002 the public.

From 2004 to 2006, a system on a chip (SoC ) was funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology basuma project - solution developed.

A further development has been ongoing since February 2005 by the Japanese NTT under the name RedTacton.

Benefits

The most commonly used frequency to 2.45 GHz is selected for use on the human body. The transmission power is low. The resulting given range is about one meter - exactly the region of a proximal network.

  • International admission freedom of wireless transmission
  • Low transmission power with low penetration of the body
  • Self-configuring largely administration -free radio network
  • Miniaturized design
  • Minimal power consumption and low interference potential
  • Rapid build-up of transmission, connectionless transmission possible
  • Standardized medical device communication
  • Robustness in motion and ease of use for the layman

The data transmission channel is set by the base station. It also decides when a channel change occurs, such as when a transfer several times in succession was disrupted.

For the transmission of private and confidential information mechanisms are provided for encryption.

Applications

The applicability of BANs, or WBANs are very diverse. They will be used, for example for the detection of body functions such as blood pressure and heart rate, EEG and EKG. Also a monitoring of existing implants is one of the application areas. The detected values ​​can be used for a variety of services as for the treatment of chronic diseases, for medical diagnosis, patient monitoring, and the monitoring of biometric data.

The applications of a Body Area Network or Body Sensor Network are versatile:

  • Built- in wireless hearing aids
  • Integration jogging in Heart Rate Monitors
  • Communication in airplanes or spaceships
  • Communication in hospitals
  • Patient monitoring at home (post operative care )
  • Monitoring of infants
  • Examination in sleep laboratories
  • Networking components of portable consumer electronics

In addition to audio and video data used for predominantly medical applications, body mounted sensors measure usually some of the following vital signs:

  • Blood pressure
  • Blood sugar
  • ECG
  • Pulse
  • Oxygen saturation
  • ...
Wireless ad hoc network Fraunhofer Society Transmitter power output Electrocardiography Biometrics Diagnostic test Audio signal IEEE 802.20 Metropolitan Area Network
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