International Journal of Computer Information Systems, Vol. 3, No.

6, 2011

A Mobile Network Based Architecture for Body Area Networks

Rutuparna Panda
Dept of Electronics and Telecomm Engg, VSS University of Technology, Burla Burla-768018. (India) E-mail:r_ppanda@yahoo.co.in

Leena Samantaray
Dept of Applied Electronics and Instrumentation Engg., ABIT Cuttack, (India)

Deepak Kumar Rout

Dept of Electronics and Telecom Engg VSS University of Technology, Burla Burla-768018. (India)

AbstractWireless Body Area Networks are slowly gaining popularity in the field of remote health monitoring. The deployment of the Body area networks require the setup of new infrastructure in form of access points and switching centers and other hardware for the network back bone. The paper presents architecture for body area networks based on the existing second and third generation mobile infrastructure. Second and third generation mobile networks have wide coverage throughout the world. The benefit of using this architecture is the cost saving and fast deployment capability which would otherwise be absent if the network infrastructure is newly laid. The architecture is simple yet highly efficient. Keywords-Body Area Network architecture; Ultra wide band; medical wireless, mobile architecture.

I.

INTRODUCTION

The body area network presents state of art technologies in the field of wireless communication as well as remote health monitoring. In this technology tiny sensors are implanted inside human body or embedded in the external clothing or else worn on human body like ornaments. These sensors collect important health parameters like blood pressure, blood sugar, heart rate, and other vital parameters [1]. The placement of these sensors enables detecting vital signs of diseases in their early stage. These sensors collect data and transmit to a PDA or Smartphone. Sensors also have the ability to communicate among themselves. The advantage of this communication being the saving of power which would otherwise be consumed while communicating with a far device directly. The PDA transmits the collected to a patient monitoring center [1]. Data collected at this node is closely monitored by medical personal. The advantage of this type of monitoring being the efficient utilization of medical personal whose number is scarce in many developing nations. In the following text we present mobile network based architecture for body area networks. II. RESEARCH AREAS AND RELATED WORK

Researchers are working on numerous areas in the body area networks. The first and the most vital area is the communication between the sensors and, the sensors and

PDA. In this area researchers are working on the behavior of body area network and its characteristics. Notable work is also going on the different modulation techniques for body area networks; here the modulation technique should be reliable as well as power efficient so that the battery life of the implant can be increased. In [2] some channel models have been proposed. In [3],[4] and [5] modulation techniques have been presented. Another vital area is the design of sensors that can be easily implanted inside the human body and will not cause any harm in implanted condition. Implants should be power efficient so as to work for a long time without requiring replacement as well as free from any kind of contaminant. They should be friendly with the human body. Stress is also on the design of sensors that can efficiently identify and detect early signs of diseases [6]. In [7] and [8] some algorithms for the fall detection of elderly patients are suggested. These algorithms are highly beneficial for the rehabilitation of patients that require constant attention of medical personnel. When it comes to patient monitoring patient localization plays an important part and this is where node localization system and algorithms come into existence. These techniques are important to locate patients in case of emergency. In [9] and [10] techniques have been presented for localization of nodes. In [11] the author has suggested the use of existing second generation networks for this purpose. In BAN important patient data is transmitted in the wireless channel. Unlike the bounded media this media is not free from potential intruders. There is a chance of intrusion so security is another area of utmost importance for BAN. Some specialized encryption algorithms are required for this purpose. The algorithms should be fast with low overhead yet highly secure [12]. Some independent studies have been done for finding an efficient and secure architecture for BAN. The deployment of body area networks will require establishment of huge infrastructure in form of base stations, switching centers, gateways, monitoring centers etc. Setting

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International Journal of Computer Information Systems, Vol. 3, No. 6, 2011 up of these infrastructures is not an easy task and requires huge investments in form of both material and manpower. So here we present architecture for body area networks based on the existing second and third generation mobile networks. III. BODY AREA NETWORKS External node Implant nodes are the sensors that are implanted inside the human body and this could be anywhere inside the human body. Nodes are placed in such locations where they can sense the required signal efficiently. For instance a sensor to measure to measure heart rate should be placed near the location of heart. Body surface nodes are either placed on the body or they come as wearable devices and they are in direct contact with the skin or at most two centimeters away. While measuring heart rate by ECG monitors require around 3 to 4 sensors on the human body these sensors are an example of body surface nodes. There are devices that are placed on human body only to receive data from the implanted and other non implanted sensors they also come in this category. External nodes are not in direct contact with the skin. They are placed at few centimeters to around five meters away from the human body. The PDA can be considered as an external node. In [6] the use of a variety of sensors includingElectrochemical Sensors, Optical Sensors, Gravimetric Sensors,Consuming and Non-Consuming Biosensors has been suggested. Emphasis has been laid on biocompability and implantation of these sensors. Power limitation The maximum power limitation in body area networks is governed by different regional and international regulations. ETSI: The European Telecommunications Standards Institute limits the maximum power output to 25W ERP. FCC and ITU-R: The FCC and ITU-R limits the power output to a maximum of 25W EIRP. The 25W limit is actually applicable for signal power outside the human body which means that the power level inside the body can be increased to compensate for losses from the body tissues[2].

A Body Area Network can be formally defined as a network of devices in close proximity to human responsible for the collection of real time data in form of blood pressure, heart rate etc and other vital information so as to enable early detection and possible treatment of diseases. Fig.1 shows the placement of sensors on human body in body area network. Different sensors measure vital body parameters. Sensors sense vital parameters like ECG, EEG, Toxins, etc. [6]

Figure 1. (a) Placement of sensors in BAN

PDA Non Implant Sensors Implanted Sensors

Figure 1. (b) Placement of sensors in BAN

Figure 2. Placement of sensors in BAN

Sensors IEEE TG6 defines three types of nodes for BAN[2] Implant node Body surface node

Spectrum Allocation for BAN The IEEE task group 6 has suggested the use of certain frequency bands for the body area networks. The table below shows the bands [2].

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International Journal of Computer Information Systems, Vol. 3, No. 6, 2011

Table I. Frequency bands for body area network.

Purpose Implant to Implant Implant to Body Surface Implant to External Body Surface to Body Surface(LOS) Body Surface to Body Surface(NLOS) Body Surface to External(LOS)

Frequency Band 402-405 MHz 402-405 MHz 402-405 MHz 13.5, 50, 400, 600, 900 MHz 2.4, 3.1-10.6 GHZ 13.5, 50, 400, 600, 900 MHz 2.4, 3.1-10.6 GHZ 900 MHz 2.4, 3.1-10.6 GHz

The subscribers PDA connects to the MSC which validates the services and once authorized the subscriber is connected to the Medical observation center. The data can now be transferred from the patient to the Medical observation center. There is a dedicated link between the MSC and the Medical observation center.

IV.

PROPOSED ARCHITECTURE

Proposed Architecture I The body area network is undergoing standardization under the IEEE task group 6. Several architectures are proposed for it using different strategies. The figure 3 presents a simple architecture for BAN based on the existing second and third generation mobile architecture. The patient will have on body or implanted sensors which may be connected using a star or mesh topology or a mixed one. If a star topology is being followed then a central controller will act as the communicating node between the other sensors and the base station. The data transmitted from the sensors are collected on an on body device which is then transmitted to a PDA via the Bluetooth or Zigbee link. If a mesh topology is used then one of the nodes will have to act as communicating node to the PDA, Smart phone or a simple health gadget which has the capability to transmit and receive data to a mobile base station. There must be some arrangement in the PDA to perform some local processing on the data. This is required since it is not possible to transmit large amount of data through the second and third generation mobile links all the time. In place of transferring large volume of unwanted information we can only transmit the data that are important. Hence local processing can be done to reduce the volume of data for transmission. Another fact is that timely watch on the patient is required. So if there are no special issues with the patient then also the various body parameters and related data must be transmitted in a timely manner. So the data collected may be transmitted in bursts in a timely manner. The PDA transmits the collected data via the existing second and third generation mobile networks to a mobile switching center that connects to Internet, PSTN and most important medical observation center. In the MSC except the HLR, VLR and the other subscriber databases, a database of the Health care subscription details of the customer may be stored. This database validates whether the customer is eligible to get the health care facilities or not.

Figure 3. (a) BAN architecture 1

In case of emergencies the observation center can get the location coordinates of the patient from the MSC and the medical personnel can reach the patient. The service provider also makes suitable arrangements for the storage of the medical records of the patient. These records are important to get the patients disease history and the treatments done.The patients health is monitored at the medical observation center. Proposed Architecture II The above mentioned architecture has a direct link between the MSC and the medical observation center. We present here another architecture based on the mobile network infrastructure that does not have a dedicated link between the MSC and the health center.

Figure 3. (b) BAN architecture

The connection procedure is the same as in previous architecture but in place of connecting via a dedicated line, the patients PDA connects to the medical observation center through the internet. The PDA can use the techniques like EDGE, GPRS or third generation techniques like HSDPA to connect the health center via internet.

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International Journal of Computer Information Systems, Vol. 3, No. 6, 2011 The first type of architecture requires a dedicated link between the MSC and the Medical Health Center. This architecture is of importance when high data rate is desired. In fact the subscriber needs to subscribe for the service for the medical service. This type of architecture is helpful for easy tracking of the patient. Here the problem is that the subscriber can only get services from the Medical Health Center provided by the mobile service provider. The subscriber has to make a choice from the limited health service providers. In the second type of architecture the subscriber connects via the mobile service provider to connect to the internet so as to connect to the Medical Health Center. The mobile service provider has no control over the health services. The subscriber is free to choose from all the health service providers. The problems with this architecture are that the speed of data transfer is limited by the speed of the internet and it may not be easy to track the patient in case of emergency. In this way the existing infrastructure can be used for the development of body area networks. V. FUTURE PROSPECTS
control and Instrumentation (RACICON 2011) , pp.24-28, February 2011. [2] Channel Model for Body Area Network (BAN) IEEE P802.15-080780-09-0006 April, 2009 [3] J.Y.Oh,H.H.Kim and H.S.Lee, New Modulation Scheme for High Data Rate Implantable Medical Devices, Proceedings of ISCIT 2009, pp.2034-2038, 2009. [4] D.K.Kim and H.S.Lee,Phase-Silence-Shift-Keying for PowerEfficient Modulator, EICE Trans. Commun., Vol. E92-B, No. 6, June 2009. [5] Han Shuguang, Chi Baoyong, and Wang Zhihua, "A mixed-loop CMOS analog GFSK modulator with tunable modulation index," IEEE Transactions on Circuits and SystemsII, vol. 54, No. 6, pp.547-551,Jun 2007 [6] Guang-Zhong Yang,Body Sensor Networks, Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Computing, Imperial College London, UK Springer ISBN-10: 1-84628-272-1ISBN-13: 978-1-84628-272-0. [7] Implementation and Testing of a Secure Fall Detection System for Body Area Networks, Stevan Marinkovic, Riccardo Puppo, Roberto Lan Cian Pan and Emanuel Popovici [8] Adam Williams, Deepak Ganesan, and Allen Hanson,Aging in Place: Fall Detection and Localization in a Distributed Smart Camera Network, MM07, September 2328, 2007, Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany.Copyright 2007 ACM 978-1-59593-701-8/07/0009 [9] Cheng Guo, Jing Wang, R. Venkatesha Prasad, and Martin Jacobsson,Improving Accuracy of Person Localization with Body Area Sensor Networks: An Experimental StudyConsumer Communications and Networking Conference, 2009. CCNC 2009. 6th IEEE. [10] C.P. Figueiredo, N.S. Dias, P.M. Mendes,3D Localization for Biomedical Wireless Sensor Networks using a Microantenna, Proceedings of the 1st European Wireless Technology Conference, pp.2056-2059, 2007. [11] Md.Asdaque Hussain and Kyung Sup Kwak, Positioning in Wireless Body Area Network using GSM, International Journal of Digital Content Technology and its Applications Volume 3, Number 3, pp.545-552, September 2009. [12] On Usable Authentication for Wireless Body Area Networks, Cory Cornelius and David Kotz Dartmouth CollegePresented at HealthSec, August 2010.Copyright 2010 by the authors. AUTHORS PROFILE Dr. Rutuparna Panda obtained Ph.D.(Engg) degree from IIT,KGP in 1998. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering and DEAN, SRIC & CEP, VSS University of Technology Burla. He has received Rashtriya Ratna Award for his contribution to research and developments in the year 2003. He has over 70 papers in International/National Journals and conferences. His area of research interests includes Bioinformatics, Digital signal/image processing, VLSI signal processing, Wireless communication. Dr. Leena Samantaray received her Ph.D.(Engg.) degree from Sambalpur University in 2010. She is a Professor in the Department of Applied Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering of Ajaya Binaya Institute of Technology, Cuttack, India. Her research areas include Body Area Networks, Wireless Sensor Networks, Signal Processing. Deepak Kumar Rout received his B Tech from BPUT, Rourkela, India and M Tech from VSSUT,Burla India. He is currently with the Department of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering of Synergy Institute of Engineering and Technology, Dhenkanal, India. His research areas include Body Area Networks, Wireless Networks, Mobile Computing, Signal Processing and Telemedicine.

Body area networks are the technology of the future. The development in this area is all set to revolutionize the entire area of mobile healthcare. In fact as we have mobile phones today in future people will hold health gadgets or the same mobile phones and PDAs with additional health gadget functionality which would not only show their vital body parameters at finger tips and enable early detection of diseases but also be able to transmit this information wirelessly to enable medical personal to keep track of their patients location and health. The architectures presented here may be highly useful in the rapid deployment of the body area networks. The use of the existing mobile networks reduces implementation costs. VI. CONCLUSION

Body area network will be highly accepted in spite of the drawbacks it may possibly have. However there are some key issues that are yet to be addressed. This technique is much more effective than any other monitoring and localization system. The standardization of body area network is the most important job for scientists and engineers in this field. The design of a new security architecture, algorithms and authentication mechanisms are some areas still to be addressed. The benefit of using the proposed architecture is the cost saving and fast deployment capability which would otherwise be absent if the network infrastructure is newly laid. The architecture is simple yet highly efficient. In near future a lot of work will continue in the design of standards and protocols for body area networks. REFERENCES
[1] R.Panda and D.K.Rout,Body Area Networks: A perspective, Proceedings of the 2nd National conference on recent advances in

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