A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing

Wireless Body Area Networks

Arturo Fajardo Jaimes∗† Fernando Rangel de Sousa †

∗Department of Electronics Engineering †
Radiofrequency Laboratory
Pontifical Xavierian University, Bogota, Colombia Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Email: fajardoa@javeriana.edu.co Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianpolis, Brazil
Email: rangel@ieee.org

Abstract—Wireless body area networks have recently gained

attention, mainly after the IEEE 802.15.6 standard had been
proposed. Reviewing the literature, we easily recognize that
several authors use different terminologies for a single concept
or a single terminology for different concepts. This generates
confusion and blocks fair comparisons between systems. In this
paper, we present an overview of Wireless Body Area Networks
(WBAN) with focus on the applications. Moreover, we propose a
detailed taxonomy that could help to disambiguate the confusion
regarding current WBAN terminology.
Keywords—Wireless Body Area Networks, Medical Body Area
Networks, Wireless Body Sensor Networks, WBAN, MWBAN, Fig. 1. World’s age pyramid. Based on [1]
WBSN.

I. I NTRODUCTION body environment (i.e. solar and thermal). This energy is

The world population is growing fast, from 1950 to 2010 transferred through an inductive link to the passive implanted
the population increased by around 4,390,405,000 individuals device that answers with the biomedical data. These data could
[1]. Further, the human life expectancy has increased too, in be used to achieve the goal of the specific application. For
the same period, the elderly population (60 years old or older) example, if any abnormalities are found an alarm can notify
augmented by about 410,647,596 individuals, representing a to the patient or the doctor through email or short message
change from 8% to 11.1% on the composition of the population service (SMS), if the gateway of the WBAN node has at least
[1].The proportion of older persons is expected to double over 3G connectivity.
the next four decades, as we can figure out from the Fig. WBANs are expected to cause a dramatic shift in how
1. It is expected that this increase will overload health-care people behave, in the same way the internet did. However,
systems. In order to face this challenge, new scalable solutions technical and social challenges must be faced before a natural
centered in reducing the cost of supporting elderly people adoption [5]. We are in the early years of the networks in,
must be found. On the other hand, millions of people develop on and around the human body. There are many researchers,
chronic or fatal diseases every year and around 80% of health- companies, professionals, students and consortiums developing
care system spending is on chronic condition management [2]. products acknowledging for this type of networks [2], [4],
Moreover, as shown in [3], most diseases could be prevented [5], [14], [15], because the wide applications span (i.e. mil-
if they were detected in their early stages. Therefore, future itary, ubiquitous health care, sport, entertainment,etc). Since
health-care systems must concentrate efforts on early detection people with different skills and academic background are
and prevention of diseases. Additionally, there is increasing working on this subject, the information about the topic is
recognition that remote monitoring should be employed in sometimes difficult to understand, mainly due to the lack of
order to diminish mortality, hospitalization, and transport costs standardization. It is common to find different terminologies
[4].
In order to achieve health-care systems connected at person
level, at least a network which can be wearable, or implanted NODE
in the human body is needed [5]. Such networks are commonly WBAN
referred to as Wireless Body Area Networks [5]–[12]. Typi- WBAN
cally, The WBANs interact with other wireless technologies N1b
NETWORK
SKIN
(i.e. WSNs, WLAN, WPAN) in order to provide a complete N1a
FAT H1
TI platform for connecting health care services. As an example IMPLANTED
in [13] was proposed a system concept where a WBAN node DEVICE MUSCLE N1c
N1d
transfers energy and receives information from an implanted
device, this system is shown in the Fig. 2. In order to achieve
energy autonomy, the WBAN node harvests energy from the Fig. 2. Self-sustaining implanted device using Energy Harvesting and WTP.
associated to a single subject. As an example, terms as: Body WAN >10Km
(LTE,GSM,UMTS)
sensor Network, Human Body Network, Micro Personal Area WMAN <10Km
Network, Wearable Body Area Network, and Medical Body (IEEE 802.16, Wimax)

Sensor Network, are all used as synonymous for Wireless Body WLAN <1km
(IEEE 802.11, WiFi)
Area Network. WPAN <10m
(IEEE 802.15.4,
ZigBee)
The fundamental purpose of this paper is to analyze WBAN <2m

the recent literature about WBAN focusing on applications (IEEE 802.15.6)

and network properties, and achieve a coherent taxonomy

for WBAN networks. Further, we present an intuitive and
(a) Geographical coverage comparison
comprehensive comparison with other wireless networks.
100 Mbps
II. WBAN F UNDAMENTALS WiFi

10 Mbps
In the context of WBANs, the technical requirements 802.11 a/b/g

such as data rate, duty cycle per device per time, power Bluetooth

Data Rate
1 Mbps
consumption, latency, and privacy are all specific for each
application [5], [16]. Further, in some applications, the WBAN 100 kbps ZigBee

is only a single piece in the Information Technology (IT) 802.15.6

infrastructure and all the system specifications determine the 10 kbps

WBAN requirements [4]. In this section we summarize the

applications of WBAN based IT systems as reported in [2],
1kbps
802.15.6

[4], [5], [7], [8], [12], [17]–[20], then we present an intuitive 0.1mW 1mW 10mW 100mW 1000mW
and comprehensive comparison with other wireless networks Power

used in complex IT systems and finally we show a typical (b) Date rate and power consumption comparison
communication architecture for IT systems based in WBANs.
Fig. 3. Wireless network comparison. Based in [5].
A. Applications of WBAN
The WBAN applications span is wide but the IEEE between the network and the human body. For example, the
802.15.6 standard categorizes them into medical and non- implanted sensors has a small form factor resulting in a
medical. Medical applications of WBAN can be employed for higher need for energy efficiency. Further, if the data are
a) medical treatment, monitoring and diagnosis; b) prevention medical information, the reliability of the network must be
of medical accidents; c) remote health/fitness monitoring; d) guarantee. Other example are the wearable sensor nodes, they
disability assistance; e) safeguarding of uninformed (e.g. a can move with regard to each other, e.g. a sensor node placed
WBAN can monitor the level of toxics in the air and warns on the wrist moves in relation to a sensor node attached
the firefighters or soldiers when a life-threatening level is de- to the hip, Therefore the system requires mobility support.
tected); f) remote control of medical devices; g) tele-medicine Additionally, the WBAN nodes are heterogeneous, i.e, they
systems. Non-Medical WBAN applications include a) training have dissimilar: data rate, power consumption and latency
schedule of professional athletes, b) consumer electronics [19]. In brief, although challenges faced by WBANs are in
; c) advanced human-computer interfaces such as a neural many ways similar to WSNs, there are intrinsic differences
interfaces, gaming consoles and virtual reality; d) personal between them, requiring special attention [12]. A schematic
information sharing (i.e.private or business information can be view of conventional network challenges in WBAN, WSN and
stored in body sensors for many daily life applications such as WLAN is presented in the Fig. 4. It is important to clarify that
shopping and information exchange); e) secure authentication; the illustrated challenges do not involve human compatibility,
f) non-medical emergency alert (i.e. emergency detection such which is important only in WBAN technologies.The IEEE
as fire at home). 802.15.6 overcomes the constraints of the WBAN technologies
as its focus is specifically on networking within and around
B. WBAN comparison with other wireless networks the body [5], [7].
Typically, the wireless networks can be categorized based
on their geographical coverage, date rate, and power consump-
tion. In the Fig. 3 the WBAN (IEEE 812.15.6) are compared
with others wireless networks such as Wireless Personal Area
Networks (WPAN), Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN),
Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (WMAN) , Wireless
Wide Area Networks (WWAN), Zigbee, IEEE 802.15.4, and
Bluetooth.
In several works, Wireless Body Area Networks are con-
sidered as a special type of a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN)
or a Wireless Sensor and Actuator Network (WSAN), with its
own requirements. However, traditional sensor networks do not Fig. 4. Schematic view of conventional network challenges in WBAN, WSN
tackle the specific challenges associated with the interaction and WLAN. Based on [21]
C. Simplified architecture of WBAN
WBAN1
1) Isolated WBAN: Unlike WSNs that normally operate as
N1a
autonomous systems, a WBAN seldom works alone [17]. An N1b H1
isolated WBAN is a wireless network composed by different N1c
N1d

types of nodes. The IEEE 802.15.6 standard considers two N2b

possible topologies: one-hop or two-hop star topology with

one node in the center of the star [7]. By functionality, the N2a

nodes are classified as coordinator, end nodes and relay nodes. H2

WBAN2
The coordinator transmits and receives information from and N3b N3a

to the end nodes and the relay nodes (sensors and actuators) WBAN3 H3

and handles interaction with other users (i.e. a display or N3c

external gateway). A difference between the end nodes and

the relay nodes is that the relay node may transfer messages
to end notes or to coordinator. On the other hand, concerning
the implementation, the nodes are classified as: implant node
(in body), body surface node (0-2 cm away from the body)
and external node (around 2-5 cm away from the body). In Fig. 5. Simplified architecture of a isolated WBAN
Fig. 5 some of the possible implementation scenario of those
topologies are shown.
2) IT solution based in WBAN: The Fig. 6 illustrates a
general architecture of a WBAN based health monitoring
system. Typically, the generic communication process may be
separated into three different tiers, as follows: Intra-WBAN
communication (Tier-1), Inter-WBAN communication (Tier-2)
and Beyond-WBAN communication (Tier-3) [17]. In the tier-1
the internal WBAN communication between nodes takes place
(IEEE 812.15.6). The communication going on the tier-2 is
used to interconnect WBANs with various networks that are
Fig. 6. Simplified architecture of Medical TI solution based in WBAN. Based
easy to access in daily life, such as the Internet and cellular in [17]
networks. The communication process takes place between the
coordinator node of the WBAN and one or more access points
(APs). Compared to intra-WBAN communications, wireless implanted (I-WBAN and I-WBSN), as found in [27], [30]–
technologies for inter-WBAN communication are mature, and [32].
include: WLAN, Bluetooth, Zigbee, cellular, and 3G, etc. The
Tier-3 communications are used to achieve the goal of the The WBAN have many applications, but the medical field
specific application, and should adapt to the requirements of is maybe the most important. There are many players working
user-specific services. For example, if any abnormalities are to develop products that changes the medical paradigm of
found based on the up-to-date body signal transmitted to the
database, an alarm can notify to the patient or the doctor
through email or short message service (SMS), therefore in W-MWBAN
this example we need at least 3G. MWBAN
I-MWBAN
MWBAN
W-MWBSN
MWBSN
I-MWBSN
III. P ROPOSED TAXONOMY FOR WBAN WBAN
W- WBAN
WBAN
Using the references analyzed we propose some definitions I- WBAN
for the most common type of WBAN networks. First we WBAN
W- WBSN
understand that a wireless body area network is such a wireless WBSN
I- WBSN
network composed by sensor/actuators nodes (N) and hubs (H),
that operates in, on, or around body (but not limited to human (a) Taxonomy tree
bodies) and supports a variety of medical and non-medical EEG

applications. This definition is based in [5], [7], [8], [12], [17], Pulse
ECG

[22], where BAN and WBAN are used as synonymous. In our I-MWBAN

point of view, a WBAN is a BAN subcategory. Additionally,

Oximeter Blood Pressure

H
H
H

special cases of the WBAN are defined as follows: 1) when all

Blood Glucose
W-MWBAN
Body Temperature

nodes are sensors in a WBAN, the network is called Wireless Muscle Activity

Body Sensor Networks (WBSN), in agreement with [23]–[27]; MWBAN

2) when all the nodes (N) and hubs (H) are on the human body,
N

the networks are categorized as wearable (W-WBAN and W- (b) MWBAN (c) I-MWBAN (d) W-MWBAN
WBSN), as found in [28], [29]. On the other hand, if some
N or H are in the human body, the network is recognized as Fig. 7. Proposed WBAN taxonomy.
prognosis and treatment. In this scenario the WBAN must be [13] A. Fajardo and F. Rangel de Sousa, “Design methodology for maximiz-
explored, developed and implemented in a specific framework ing the power transfer from dc harvesters to ac loads,” presented at the
IEEE Int. Symp. on Circuits and Systems, Montreal, Canada, 2016.
(legal, safety, ethic, etc). The Medical Wireless Body Area
Network (MWBAN) is a wireless communication technology [14] K. Becher, C. P. Figueiredo, C. Muhle, R. Ruff, P. M. Mendes, and
K. Hoffmann, “Design and realization of a wireless sensor gateway
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IV. C ONCLUSION
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT [21] T. Zasowski, “A system concept for ultra wideband (uwb) body area
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