Wireless Body Area Networks for Pervasive Healthcare and Smart Environments

  Wireless body area networks (WBANs) use RF communication for interconnection of tiny sensor nodes located in, on, or in close proximity to the human body. A WBAN enables physiological signals, physical activity, and body position to be continuously monitored. Designing a WBAN is challenging because of the limited energy that a WBAN can consume and the limited processing capabilities of sensor nodes. Also, the radio communication environment is highly variable and prone to interference. Recent advances in wearable and implantable biosensors, short⁃range wireless communication, and low⁃power embedded processors are contributing to an increase in WBAN R&D aimed at addressing these issues. WBANs usually function as signal sources in larger, more intelligent systems used in applications that have the potential for great social and economic good. These larger systems are formed by connecting WBANs with external communication and computing infrastructure, e.g., cloud⁃computing services accessed through a smartphone that connects to the Internet via a wireless WAN. There is strong interest among researchers and medical practitioners in the development of intelligent systems based on WBAN. These systems enable pervasive e⁃healthcare applications, such as ambulatory monitoring of outpatients, as well as smarter environments that support context⁃aware applications, aspects of video gaming, monitoring of sports training regimes, and monitoring of emergency personnel and mission⁃critical workers. The purpose of this special issue is to survey WBAN in terms of state state⁃of⁃the⁃art technologies, latest developments, and useful applications. Original papers were solicited from experts on WBAN, and six of these papers were selected for peer⁃review and publication. Each paper covers a different aspect of WBAN.
The first paper, “Sensing, Signal Processing, and Communication for WBANs,” by S. H. Fouladi, R. Chávez⁃Santiago, P. A. Floor, I. Balasingham, and Tor A. Ramstad, is a survey of recent research on signal processing related to sensor measurements in WBAN. The paper describes aspects of communication based on the IEEE 802.15.6 standard. The paper also describes state⁃of⁃the⁃art modeling for WBAN channels in all frequency bands specified in IEEE 802.15.6. The authors discuss the need for channel models for new frequency bands.
The second paper, “MAC Layer Resource Allocation for Wireless Body Area Networks,” by Q. Shen, X. Shen, T. H. Luan, and J. Liu, describes a centralized MAC layer resource⁃allocation scheme for WBAN. The authors focus on mitigating interference between WBANs and reducing the amount of power consumed by sensors. This scheme involves a central controller that optimizes channel resource allocation according to channel and buffer state reported by smartphones. Temporal correlations of body area channels are exploited to minimize channel state reporting. A myopic policy is developed to solve the network design formulated as a partly observable optimization problem.

  The third paper, “Selective Cluster⁃Based Temperature Monitoring System for Homogeneous Wireless Sensor Networks,” by S. Tyagi, S. Tanwar, S. K. Gupta, N. Kumar, and J. J. P. C. Rodrigues, describes a health monitoring system for critically ill patients as a case study for temperature⁃monitoring based on Enhanced LEACH Selective Cluster (E⁃LEACH⁃SC) routing protocol. E⁃LEACH⁃SC uses direct and selective cluster⁃based data transmission for short⁃range and long⁃range collection of data from ill patients. Simulations show that E⁃LEACH⁃SC significantly increases network lifetime compared to traditional LEACH and LEACH⁃SC protocols.

  The fourth paper, “Prototype of Integrating Internet of Things and Emergency Service in an IP Multimedia Subsystem for Wireless Body Area Networks,” by K.⁃D. Chang, J.⁃L. Chen, and H.⁃C. Chao, describes a common fabric for integrating the Internet of Things into the Internet and supporting emergency call processing so that critical WBAN data can be transferred. The paper describes a simulated bootstrap platform using 3GPP IP Multimedia Subsystem services as well as a prototype implementation. Experimental and simulation results show that the system is suitable for providing emergency services. 

  The fifth paper, “Smart Body Sensor Object Networking,” by B. Khasnabish, describes the networking and internetworking of smart body sensor objects. The author proposes making body sensor objects smarter by giving them virtualization, predictive analytic, and proactive computing and communications capabilities. The author also describes use cases that include the relevant privacy and protocol requirements. General usage and deployment etiquette and relevant regulatory implications are also discussed.

  The sixth paper, “E⁃Healthcare Supported by Big Data,” by J. Liu, J. Wan, S. He, and Y. Zhang, describes how e⁃healthcare has increased transparency by making decades of stored health data searchable and usable. The authors give an overview of the architecture of e⁃healthcare, including four layers: data collection, data transport, data storage, and data analysis. Challenges in data security, data privacy, real⁃time delivery, and open standard interface are also discussed.

  In closing, we would like to thank all the authors for their contributions and all the reviewers for their efforts in helping to improve the quality of the papers. We are grateful to the editorial office of ZTE Communications for their support in bringing this special issue to press.