Towards energy efficient protocols for wireless body area networks

The major medium access control (MAC) layer protocol design challenges for wireless body area network (WBAN) involve Quality of Service assurance for high reliability and guaranteed latency requirement for real time data, especially vital signs that needs a deterministic structure with special care for emergency reaction alarm; flexibility since it must support various types (periodic, non-periodic, medical, entertainment) of traffic/data rate and importantly, energy efficiency, since energy consumption especially for implanted device must be limited. These requirements necessitate design of efficient active/inactive scheduling. This paper evaluates the needs and performance of energy efficient MAC protocols proposed for wireless body area networks.