You have heard of computer Local Area Networks (LAN), and Wide Area Networks (WAN), and maybe even Metro Area Networks (MAN); and you may even have a network in your car - but how about in and on your body! Yes “Body Area Networks” (BAN) are getting more attention from engineers, scientists, and doctors.

Body Area Network’s are a base technology for permanent monitoring and logging of vital signs with the goal of supervising the health status of patients suffering from chronic diseases. Another prominent area of application for long-term logging of patient data is cardiology, where 24-hour-ECGs are required for therapy control and as early indicators for impending heart attacks. Recent interest has also developed in regard “consumer” applications; non-medical devices that would be used for personal entertainment, navigation, or other applications

The basic concept of the medical use of a BAN is that a set of mobile, compact units would enable the transfer of vital parameters between the patient´s location and their doctor. The vital signs data flow passes a chain of BAN modules from each sensor to a main body station, which consolidates the data streams of all sensor modules attached. It transmits the data to a home base station, from where they can be forwarded via telephone line or internet.

Considerable attention is spent on a high level of security for the new BAN transmission protocol. Appropriate encryption mechanisms are foreseen to be integrated in these protocols. Finally, it must be guaranteed that patient data is only derived from each patient´s dedicated BAN system and cannot be mixed up with data from other patients or BAN systems at the same location. BAN is not only appropriate for communication in hospital and at home but has further applications. Potential areas of use are sleep laboratories, monitoring of new-borns or wireless hearing aids.

An IEEE working group (IEEE 802.15 Working Group TG6: Body Area Networks) was formed in November 2007 to work on a BAN standard.

The stated overview of this task group is:
The IEEE 802.15 Task Group 6 (BAN) is developing a communication standard optimized for low power devices and operation on, in or around the human body (but not limited to humans) to serve a variety of applications including medical, consumer electronics / personal entertainment and other.

This task group has issued a Call for Applications due March 14, 2008. The stated background for this call for applications is:

As a result of an IEEE 802.15 study group effort we determined that there is a need for a communication standard optimized for low power devices and operation on, in or around the human body(but not limited to humans) to serve a variety of applications including medical, consumer electronics/personal entertainment and other. What is unique is the presence of a body which impacts the channel model and may require attention to additional regulatory issues like Specific Absorption Rate (SAR*) limits. The existence of a body area network standard will provide opportunities to address these unique needs and to expand the wireless opportunities for products where people (bodies) are an intimate part of the equation.

Although the standard will specify a single MAC, it can specify multiple frequency bands (PHY layers) including existing ISM bands as well as frequency bands approved by national medical and/or regulatory authorities. In addition, support for Quality of Service (QoS), extremely low power, and data rates up to 10 Mbps is being considered while simultaneously complying with strict non-interference guidelines where needed. This standard will consider effects on portable antennas due to the presence of a person (varying with male, female, skinny, heavy, etc.), radiation pattern shaping to minimize Specific Absorption Rate (SAR*) into the body, and changes in characteristics as a result of the user motions.

BANs promise inexpensive, unobtrusive, and unsupervised medical monitoring during normal daily activities for prolonged periods of time. However to make this technology ubiquitous and affordable, a number of challenging engineering  and other issues need to be resolved, such as system design, configuration and customization, seamless integration, standardization, utilization of common off-the-shelf components, security and privacy, and social issues.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 at 10:58 am and is filed under Electrical Engineering. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.