ZigBee and other wireless technologies operating in the (2.4GHz) ISM band are being applied in Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPAN) for many medical applications. However, these low duty cycle, low power, and low data rate medical WPANs suffer from WiFi co-channel interferences. WiFi interference can lead to longer latency and higher packet losses in WPANs, which can be particularly harmful to safety-critical applications with stringent temporal requirements, such as ElectroCardioGraphy (ECG). This paper exploits the Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) mechanism in WiFi devices and proposes a novel policing framework, WiCop, that can effectively control the temporal white-spaces between WiFi transmissions. Such temporal white-spaces can be utilized for delivering low duty cycle WPAN traffic. We have implemented and validated WiCop on SORA, a software-defined radio platform. Experimental results show that with the assistance of the proposed WiCop policing schemes, the packet reception rate of a ZigBee-based WPAN can increase by up to 116% in the presence of a heavy WiFi interferer. A case study on the medical application of WPAN ECG monitoring demonstrates that WiCop can bound ECG signal distortion within 2% even under heavy WiFi interference. An analytical framework is devised to model the CCA behavior of WiFi interferers and the performance of WPANs under WiFi interference with or without WiCop protection. The analytical results are corroborated by experiments.

ZigBee and other wireless technologies operating in the (2.4GHz) ISM band are being applied in Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPAN) for many medical applications. However, these low duty cycle, low power, and low data rate medical WPANs suffer from WiFi co-channel interferences. WiFi interference can lead to longer latency and higher packet losses in WPANs, which can be particularly harmful to safety-critical applications with stringent temporal requirements, such as ElectroCardioGraphy (ECG). This paper exploits the Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) mechanism in WiFi devices and proposes a novel policing framework, WiCop, that can effectively control the temporal white-spaces between WiFi transmissions. Such temporal white-spaces can be utilized for delivering low duty cycle WPAN traffic. We have implemented and validated WiCop on SORA, a software-defined radio platform. Experimental results show that with the assistance of the proposed WiCop policing schemes, the packet reception rate of a ZigBee-based WPAN can increase by up to 116% in the presence of a heavy WiFi interferer. A case study on the medical application of WPAN ECG monitoring demonstrates that WiCop can bound ECG signal distortion within 2% even under heavy WiFi interference. An analytical framework is devised to model the CCA behavior of WiFi interferers and the performance of WPANs under WiFi interference with or without WiCop protection. The analytical results are corroborated by experiments.

With the upcoming aging society and emerging of some newly discovered chronic diseases, the demand of hospital nursing for elderly patients had been significantly increased. It is a critical issue for health worker to provide a comprehensive, proactive health care in hospital, especially for those vulnerable patients who are unable to speak or behave for themselves. This study proposes an innovative, wearable RFID tag which embedded body temperature monitoring sensor, and equipped with automatic identification and localization, real-time emergency notification for health care workers. Additionally, operating with the intelligent backend system architecture, this system can also provide immediate physician advices in case if emergency situation happens without doctor near the site. The result of this study provides a ubiquitous medical care throughout whole hospital, and the new-invented tag may bring a significant change to normal health care process, especially in patient care.

With the increasing need for Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) technology to glue together various person-centric devices, the support for mobility and coexistence of these networks becomes crucial. Such support is of paramount importance in healthcare environments, where transmission collisions due to neighboring WPANs lead to degraded performance and loss/delay of transmitted critical data. In this paper we perform the theoretical analysis for collision occurrence between two close-range IEEE 802.15.4 WPANs, thus laying the grounds for collision prevention mechanisms. Specifically, we develop and state the necessary and sufficient conditions for collision to be prevented, as well as, compute the collision probabilities as function of Beacon Intervals. We show that collision is highly probable and that detection-restoration mechanisms do not mitigate and only postpone collisions. Finally, we propose initial guidelines for structural collision prevention as the only acceptable mechanism to guarantee performance and proper operations in safety critical mobile WPANs.

With the development of industrial automation technology, the limitation of traditional cable control network has become increasingly prominent. Consequently, establishing a reliable data transmission network becomes a critical demand in industry. Increasingly, companies developing monitoring and control applications in industrial and commercial building environments are looking to wireless technologies like ZigBee to save the cost of wiring and installation and also to allow more flexible deployment of systems. Zigbee was developed to satisfy the market's need for a cost-effective, standards- based wireless network that supports low data rates, low power consumption, security, and reliability. This paper illustrates that the ZigBee wireless technology can perform well in industrial environments in terms of performance and reliabilities.

With the advancement of semiconductor technologies and sensor networking techniques the importance of wireless body area networks (WBAN) is increasing. A WBAN could consist of implanted and body surface nodes. In this paper, we examine the transmission and energy consumption profiles of implanted and surface nodes of a WBAN operating in the MICS band. The paper particularly focuses on the battery life cycle analysis and the transmission power profile for an implanted node in a WBAN. MATLAB based simulation models have been used in this work to develop the battery and transmission channel simulation models.

With recent developments in the wireless networks field, new and innovative medical applications based on this technology are being developed in the research as well as commercial sectors. This trend has just started and we predict wireless networks are going to become an integral part of medical solutions due to its benefits in cutting down healthcare costs and increasing accessibility for patients as well as healthcare professionals. In this survey paper we give some background on applications of wireless networks in the medical field and discuss the issues and challenges. We have also tried to identify some of the standards in use. Another contribution due to this paper is the identification of innovative medical applications of wireless networks developed or currently being developed in the research and business sectors. In the end we also talk about the future trends in this field.

With recent developments in the wireless networks field, new and innovative medical applications based on this technology are being developed in the research as well as commercial sectors. This trend has just started and the paper predict wireless networks are going to become an integral part of medical solutions due to its benefits in cutting down healthcare costs and increasing accessibility for patients as well as increasing the efficiency of the healthcare professionals. Same papers give some background on applications of wireless networks in the medical field and discuss the issue and challenges. It also tried to identify some of the standards in use. Another contribution due to this paper is the identification of innovative medical applications of wireless networks developed or currently being developed in the research and business sectors and also talk about the future trends in this field.

With recent developments in the wireless networks field, new and innovative medical applications based on this technology are being developed in the research as well as commercial sectors. This trend has just started and the paper predict wireless networks are going to become an integral part of medical solutions due to its benefits in cutting down healthcare costs and increasing accessibility for patients as well as increasing the efficiency of the healthcare professionals. Same papers give some background on applications of wireless networks in the medical field and discuss the issue and challenges. It also tried to identify some of the standards in use. Another contribution due to this paper is the identification of innovative medical applications of wireless networks developed or currently being developed in the research and business sectors and also talk about the future trends in this field.

Wireless telemedicine is a new and evolving area in telemedical and telecare systems. Healthcare personnel require realtime access to accurate patient data, including clinical histories, treatments, medication, tests, laboratory results and insurance information. With large-scale wireless networks and mobile computing solutions, such as cellular 3G, Wi-Fi mesh and WiMAX, healthcare personnal can tap into vital information anywhere and at any time within the healthcare networks. The recent introduction of pervasive computing, consisting of radio frequency identification (RFID), Bluetooth, ZigBee, and wireless sensor networks, further extends the potential for exploitation of wireless telecommunications and its integration into new mobile healthcare delivery systems.In this paper, snapshots of current uses and future trends of various wireless communications in the healthcare domain are highlighted. Special attention is given to the challenges of a telemedicine environment equipped with different wireless technologies and how the resulting issues might be addressed in medical services integration to provide flexible, convenient and economical medical monitoring, consultation and healthcare.

Wireless systems continue to rapidly gain popularity. This is extremely true for data networks in the local and personal area, which are called WLAN and WPAN, respectively. However, most of those systems are working in the license-free industrial scientific medical (ISM) frequency bands, where neither resource planning nor bandwidth allocation can be guaranteed. To date, the most widespread systems in the 2.4 GHz ISM band are IEEE802.11 as stated in IEEE Std. 802-11 (1997) and Bluetooth, with ZigBee based in IEEE Std. 802.15.4 (2003) and IEEE802.15.4 as upcoming standards for short range wireless networks. In this paper we examine the mutual effects of these different communication standards. Measurements are performed with real-life equipment, in order to quantify coexistence issues

Wireless personal area networks have emerged as an important communication infrastructure in areas such as at-home healthcare and home automation, independent living and assistive technology, as we ...

Wireless personal area networks (WPANs) have been widely deployed for providing low power, low cost wireless connectivity that facilitates seamless operation among wireless devices centered around an individual person. However, pervasive deployment of WPANs has introduced several challenging problems on coexistence and resource provisioning. First of all, most commercial-of-the-shelf (COTS) WPAN devices typically provide limited information of the current condition of wireless channels, which would lead to misinformed decisions and under-utilization of available resources. In this dissertation, we revisit the issue of link quality prediction in IEEE 802.15.4 low rate WPANs, and decipherRSSI, LQI readings available in Zigbee radios with TI CC2420 chipset. In order to predict the instantaneous link quality, we develop an inference model under different channel environments that uses instantaneous LQI readings as input. Secondly, neighbor discovery and contention relationship inference are two corner stones of operating and managing ad-hoc WPANs. In this dissertation, we investigate the problem of joint neighbor discovery and contention relationship inference while most existing work focuses on one of the two problems. An active inference algorithm is proposed, called the ternary inference algorithm that utilizes decentralized randomized schedules to infer the neighboring and contention relationships through mixed signal at the receiver nodes. We analyze the sources of errors in the proposed scheme, and evaluate the impact of loose synchronization, network size, and other parameter settings. Lastly, newly developed high rate WPAN applications pose more stringent requirements on quality-of-service (QoS), which makes it more vulnerable to network dynamics and uncertainty in wireless channel environment. We investigate the relay

Wireless personal area network (WPAN) technology will be used for cable replacement in connecting various devices and sensors carried by a person for health monitoring. With the increasing need, every person will eventually have a WPAN and each WPAN is an autonomous entity. When two WPANs come into the radio range of each other, a collision occurs and network performance is affected. To manage the impact, the WPAN collision must be detected early and resolved quickly. This paper assumes the use of IEEE 802.15.4 WPAN. Then, we propose a MAC scheme, called Inter-Network Collision Avoidance (INCA) to detect and avoid WPAN collision accurately in a distributed manner. The proposed INCA scheme does not require any central coordinator for transmission scheduling. Instead, INCA successively separates each pair of colliding WPANs after identifying which portion of an active period suffers from the collision. We have evaluated the proposed scheme through extensive simulations. Evaluation results confirm that WPAN collisions can be effectively resolved leading to a significantly higher normalized throughput. Specifically, the probability of suffering from zero normalized throughput can be reduced from about 40% to less than 1%.

Wireless human health monitoring using different techniques has been a popular research area in the last few decades. In this paper, we describe the development of a biomedical sensor node (BSN) fo...

Wireless communication services are now in use right across the world and in particular in the health sector. The need for quality healthcare means that different individuals have to cooperate through sharing of information and discussion of patient management. This has led to increased need for quality information and communication technologies that support such cooperation. Unfortunately, a lot of interest and investment in information technology has largely focused on communication systems with very little focus on systems that apply to medical field. Even adoption of such simple technology as wireless sensor technology has not taken root in the medical field. This paper therefore presents studies and reviews of different networks in relation to the OS design of WSNs for monitoring.

Wireless body sensor networks (BSNs) in healthcare systems operate under conflicting requirements. These are the maintenance of the desired reliability and message latency of data transmissions, while simultaneously maximizing battery lifetime of individual body sensors. In doing so, the characteristics of the entire system, including physical, medium access control (MAC), and application layers have to be considered. The aim of this paper is to develop a new MAC model for BSNs to fulfill all these specific rigorous requirements under realistic medical settings. For that purpose, a novel cross-layer fuzzy-rule scheduling algorithm and energy-aware radio activation policies are introduced. The main idea is to integrate a fuzzy-logic system in each body sensor to deal with multiple cross-layer input variables of diverse nature in an independent manner. By being autonomously aware of their current condition, body sensors are able to demand a "collision-free" time slot, whenever they consider it strictly required (e.g. high system packet delay or low body sensor residual battery lifetime). Similarly, they may refuse to transmit, if there is a bad channel link, thus permitting another body sensor to do so. This results in improving the system overall performance. The proposed MAC model is evaluated by computer simulations in terms of quality of service and energy consumption under specific healthcare scenarios.

Wireless body area networks WBAN play a key role in the future of e-Health. In response, IEEE sets up working group 802.15.6 to standardize WBAN schemes. Of all existing standard proposals, the 2.4GHz proposal is the most mature and ready for mass production. However, as e-Health WBAN applications are often mission/life critical, people are concerned with the reliability particularly, coexistence reliability of this proposal. This study evaluates the 2.4GHz proposal under WiFi/Bluetooth interference in the context of medical multi-parameter monitoring. The authors conclude that WiFi poses a major threat to such application scenario, while Bluetooth does not.

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs)-based technology has invaded the Medicine and Healthcare scopes. The potential to replace wired iatrical equipments with wireless ones in the hospital will change the whole healthcare system out of question. The objective of this paper is to survey the research on the WSN-based healthcare systems to enhance further understanding of this technology for users or engineers. In this paper, we outline the structure of the WSN-based healthcare system, analyse the design space, summarise and compare the states of some well-documented applications and discuss the key research points of these systems.

Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is widely used in medical applications to monitor the human physiological activities periodically like blood pressure, glucose level, heart rate, sugar etc., Basically, sensors are of two types such as Wearable and Implanted. Wearable devices are used on the body surface of a human or just at close proximity of the user for action. The implantable medical devices are those that are inserted inside human body to measure the needs. There is no need for a doctor to check the patient’s activities periodically and it reduces the overhead in exiting technologies which are created for smart work. Wireless Sensor technology can be designed with hundreds or thousands of sensing nodes. These sensing nodes are used to capture or sensing the data and then the data can be passed to several nodes to acquire the patient physiological details and other needful information’s. Such sensitive are maintained by using some security and privacy methods. This paper reviews the various types of wireless technologies used for medical applications such as WLAN, WPAN, WIMAX and WBAN and states their frequency, range standard etc., These wireless technologies are compared based on the factors such as energy consumption, security, routing protocols in order to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the monitoring system.