6th International ICST Conference on Body Area Networks

Research Article

Design of an ultra low power MAC for a heterogeneous in-body sensor network

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  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.4108/icst.bodynets.2011.247082,
        author={Ashutosh Ghildiyal and Godara Balwant and Amara Amara},
        title={Design of an ultra low power MAC for a heterogeneous in-body sensor network},
        proceedings={6th International ICST Conference on Body Area Networks},
        publisher={ICST},
        proceedings_a={BODYNETS},
        year={2012},
        month={7},
        keywords={link protocols;  biomedical implants; body area networks; ieee 802156; media access layer; power optimisation; mac},
        doi={10.4108/icst.bodynets.2011.247082}
    }
    
  • Ashutosh Ghildiyal
    Godara Balwant
    Amara Amara
    Year: 2012
    Design of an ultra low power MAC for a heterogeneous in-body sensor network
    BODYNETS
    ICST
    DOI: 10.4108/icst.bodynets.2011.247082
Ashutosh Ghildiyal,*, Godara Balwant1, Amara Amara1
  • 1: Institut Superieur d’Electronique de Paris
*Contact email: ashutosh.ghildiyal@gmail.com

Abstract

This paper presents an ultra low power MAC designed for in-body implant network. We show how an in-body implant network, has its own unique set of requirements (priority, latency, throughput etc.) which are not addressed by generic BAN(body area network) protocols which are designed assuming identical sensors. By choosing a particular use case, we demonstrate how we can exploit disparities inherent in a typical implanted BAN to enable ultra low power operation which also meets other (often) competing requirements. We present a new MAC scheme, which allows ultra low power operation by handling the nodes in accordance to their power and latency requirements. We present a new scheme for deriving analytically the power-optimised TDMA frame parameters like beacon interval and discuss solutions to manage synchronisation overhead. Equations for deriving the duty-cycling efficiency are presented and the packet error rate is calculated for the in-body wireless channel. Our results and simulations show that the protocol outperforms best of reported MACs and for low data rate sensors (typical of BAN) our MAC allows close to standby limit power consumption.