Analyzing the Performance of WBAN Links during Physical Activity Using Real Multi-Band Sensor Nodes

Wireless body area networks (WBANs) present unique challenges due to their specific characteristics of mobility and over-the-body radio propagation. A huge amount of factors—both internal and external to the network—affect WBAN channel conditions, so a reliable and comprehensive theoretical model of...

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Main Authors: Alba Rozas, Alvaro Araujo, Jan M. Rabaey
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-03-01
Series:Applied Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/7/2920
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spelling doaj-23d7fcfd2f2043ed979936f2a64994c12021-03-26T00:00:18ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172021-03-01112920292010.3390/app11072920Analyzing the Performance of WBAN Links during Physical Activity Using Real Multi-Band Sensor NodesAlba Rozas0Alvaro Araujo1Jan M. Rabaey2B105 Electronic Systems Lab, ETSI Telecomunicación, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Avenida Complutense 30, 28040 Madrid, SpainB105 Electronic Systems Lab, ETSI Telecomunicación, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Avenida Complutense 30, 28040 Madrid, SpainBerkeley Wireless Research Center, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94704, USAWireless body area networks (WBANs) present unique challenges due to their specific characteristics of mobility and over-the-body radio propagation. A huge amount of factors—both internal and external to the network—affect WBAN channel conditions, so a reliable and comprehensive theoretical model of these communications is unfeasible and impractical in real scenarios. Thus, an empirical performance analysis of several WBAN channels is presented in this work, based on the receiver signal strength indicator (RSSI) and packet reception rate (PRR) metrics. Four different static and dynamic activities have been characterized: standing, sitting, cycling and walking. This analysis confirms the theoretical notions of path attenuation due to body parts obstructing the signal path, while serving as a benchmark for the design of future algorithms. The experiments have been carried out with real hardware nodes with wireless interfaces in three ISM bands: 433 MHz, 868 MHz and 2.4 GHz, evaluating the effect of the transmit power and node placement for different subjects. In all scenarios, the PRR metric reaches its maximum of 100% for both sub-GHz bands. Finally, our study concludes that the RSSI metric is sufficient to exploit the periodicity of dynamic activities, without the need for any extra hardware resources.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/7/2920wireless body area network (WBAN)channel characterizationphysical activityposturereceived signal strength indicator (RSSI)packet reception rate (PRR)
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Alba Rozas
Alvaro Araujo
Jan M. Rabaey
spellingShingle Alba Rozas
Alvaro Araujo
Jan M. Rabaey
Analyzing the Performance of WBAN Links during Physical Activity Using Real Multi-Band Sensor Nodes
Applied Sciences
wireless body area network (WBAN)
channel characterization
physical activity
posture
received signal strength indicator (RSSI)
packet reception rate (PRR)
author_facet Alba Rozas
Alvaro Araujo
Jan M. Rabaey
author_sort Alba Rozas
title Analyzing the Performance of WBAN Links during Physical Activity Using Real Multi-Band Sensor Nodes
title_short Analyzing the Performance of WBAN Links during Physical Activity Using Real Multi-Band Sensor Nodes
title_full Analyzing the Performance of WBAN Links during Physical Activity Using Real Multi-Band Sensor Nodes
title_fullStr Analyzing the Performance of WBAN Links during Physical Activity Using Real Multi-Band Sensor Nodes
title_full_unstemmed Analyzing the Performance of WBAN Links during Physical Activity Using Real Multi-Band Sensor Nodes
title_sort analyzing the performance of wban links during physical activity using real multi-band sensor nodes
publisher MDPI AG
series Applied Sciences
issn 2076-3417
publishDate 2021-03-01
description Wireless body area networks (WBANs) present unique challenges due to their specific characteristics of mobility and over-the-body radio propagation. A huge amount of factors—both internal and external to the network—affect WBAN channel conditions, so a reliable and comprehensive theoretical model of these communications is unfeasible and impractical in real scenarios. Thus, an empirical performance analysis of several WBAN channels is presented in this work, based on the receiver signal strength indicator (RSSI) and packet reception rate (PRR) metrics. Four different static and dynamic activities have been characterized: standing, sitting, cycling and walking. This analysis confirms the theoretical notions of path attenuation due to body parts obstructing the signal path, while serving as a benchmark for the design of future algorithms. The experiments have been carried out with real hardware nodes with wireless interfaces in three ISM bands: 433 MHz, 868 MHz and 2.4 GHz, evaluating the effect of the transmit power and node placement for different subjects. In all scenarios, the PRR metric reaches its maximum of 100% for both sub-GHz bands. Finally, our study concludes that the RSSI metric is sufficient to exploit the periodicity of dynamic activities, without the need for any extra hardware resources.
topic wireless body area network (WBAN)
channel characterization
physical activity
posture
received signal strength indicator (RSSI)
packet reception rate (PRR)
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/7/2920
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AT alvaroaraujo analyzingtheperformanceofwbanlinksduringphysicalactivityusingrealmultibandsensornodes
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