TY - JOUR
T1 - Channel estimation and transmit power control in wireless body area networks
AU - Di Franco, Fabio
AU - Tachtatzis, Christos
AU - Atkinson, Robert C.
AU - Tinnirello, Ilenia
AU - Glover, Ian A.
PY - 2015/2/1
Y1 - 2015/2/1
N2 - Wireless body area networks have recently received much attention because of their application to assisted living and remote patient monitoring. For these applications, energy minimisation is a critical issue since, in many cases, batteries cannot be easily replaced or recharged. Reducing energy expenditure by avoiding unnecessary high transmission power and minimising frame retransmissions is therefore crucial. In this study, a transmit power control scheme suitable for IEEE 802.15.6 networks operating in beacon mode with superframe boundaries is proposed. The transmission power is modulated, frame-by-frame, according to a run-time estimation of the channel conditions. Power measurements using the beacon frames are made periodically, providing reverse channel gain and an opportunistic fade margin, set on the basis of prior power fluctuations, is added. This approach allows tracking of the highly variable on-body to on-body propagation channel without the need to transmit additional probe frames. An experimental study based on test cases demonstrates the effectiveness of the scheme and compares its performance with alternative solutions presented in the literature.
AB - Wireless body area networks have recently received much attention because of their application to assisted living and remote patient monitoring. For these applications, energy minimisation is a critical issue since, in many cases, batteries cannot be easily replaced or recharged. Reducing energy expenditure by avoiding unnecessary high transmission power and minimising frame retransmissions is therefore crucial. In this study, a transmit power control scheme suitable for IEEE 802.15.6 networks operating in beacon mode with superframe boundaries is proposed. The transmission power is modulated, frame-by-frame, according to a run-time estimation of the channel conditions. Power measurements using the beacon frames are made periodically, providing reverse channel gain and an opportunistic fade margin, set on the basis of prior power fluctuations, is added. This approach allows tracking of the highly variable on-body to on-body propagation channel without the need to transmit additional probe frames. An experimental study based on test cases demonstrates the effectiveness of the scheme and compares its performance with alternative solutions presented in the literature.
KW - Channel estimation
KW - body sensor networks
KW - patient monitoring
KW - minimisation
KW - telecommunication control
KW - wireless channels
KW - power control transmission
KW - wireless body area networks
KW - remote patient monitoring
KW - energy minimisation
KW - energy expenditure
KW - frame retransmission minimisation
KW - IEEE 802.15.6 networks
KW - beacon mode
KW - superframe boundaries
KW - power measurements
KW - reverse channel gain
KW - power fluctuations
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84923861341&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1049/iet-wss.2013.0070
DO - 10.1049/iet-wss.2013.0070
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84923861341
VL - 5
SP - 11
EP - 19
JO - IET Wireless Sensor Systems
JF - IET Wireless Sensor Systems
SN - 2043-6386
IS - 1
ER -