Robust Access for Wireless Body Area Networks in Public m-Health

Recent advances in very-low-power wireless communications have stimulated great interest in the development and application of wireless technology in biomedical applications, including wireless body area networks (BANs). A BAN consists of multiple sensor nodes capable of sampling, processing, and communicating one or more vital signs and/or environmental parameters over extended periods via wireless transmissions over short distances. Low cost implementation and ubiquitous deployment calls for the use of license-exempt ISM bands, in which co-existence of other license-exempt devices, particular WiFi radios, negatively impacts on the robustness of BANs. We present proposals to increase the robustness of wireless access in BANs by identifying and taking advantages of spectrum holes that are unused by coexisting devices. Simulation and experimental results are presented to show the eective of our proposals in increasing the robustness of channel access in BANs.