Design and Simulation of a MAC Protocol for WBAN Communication Scenarios

Abstract

A Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol acts as the core of a WBAN communication system. It determines important factors that affect the efficiency of a WBAN communication system, such as throughput capability, power consumption and latency. Ultra-wideband (UWB) is a suitable wireless technology for the use in WBAN applications due to its inherent properties such as high data rate capability, low power consumption and small form factor. Although UWB transmitters are designed based on simple techniques, UWB receivers require complex hardware and consume comparatively higher power. In order to achieve reliable low power two-way communication, a sensor node can be constructed using a UWB transmitter and a narrow band receiver. This chapter presents design and simulation of a MAC protocol based on a dual-band physical layer technology. Co-simulation models based on MATLAB and OPNET have been developed to analyses the performance of the MAC protocol. The performance of the MAC protocol is analyzed for a realistic scenario where both implantable and wearable sensor nodes are involved in the data transmission. Priority based packet transmission techniques have been used in the MAC protocol to serve different sensors according to their Quality-of-Service (QoS) requirements. Analysis is done with regard to important network parameters, such as packet loss ratio, packet delay, percentage throughput, and power consumption.