Improving throughput performance under an energy efficient multiplexing access scheme using time-of-failure prognosis

With the rise of Smart Cities and e-Health, along with the ongoing pursue for higher performing wireless networks, a field that has gained attention is Body Area Networks (BANs). One of the main thrusts of BANs is health-related applications, but these networks have a broad range of functionalities. One concern is supplying enough energy to support an active network. There are various designs that satisfy this demand, but an attractive option is the use of energy harvesting devices (EHDs). Typically, an EHD cannot match the energy consumption of a BAN, but there are schemes that can achieve energy self-sustainability at the cost of reducing the throughput. Using prognosis techniques, the time of failure (ToF) can be estimated and the Process-Stacking Multiplexing Access (PSMA) can transmit at specific rates when the ToF is at a predefined range. This can significantly increase the throughput at the cost of energy. This energy is a calculated investment that is expected to be replenished with the objective of not depleting the battery during active periods. Results show that prognosis can significantly increase the throughput.