Body Area Networks MAC Protocols for Healthcare: Performance Evaluation

Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) have shown their important impact in healthcare systems since the deployment of these networks allows remote medical monitoring at a lower cost. In this work, we evaluate the performance of two standards: IEEE802.15.6 and IEEE802.15.4 when applied in a healthcare system scenario. We compare their communication modes and access mechanisms. Finally, we propose modifications to IEEE 802.15.6 access mode to enhance its performance. Simulation result demonstrates that the proposed modification improves the protocol performance in terms of packets latency and received packets number.