Increasing number of ageing population and people who need continuous health monitoring and rising the costs of health care have triggered the concept of the novel wireless technology-driven human body monitoring. Human body monitoring can be performed using a network of small and intelligent wireless medical sensors which may be attached to the body surface or implanted into the tissues. It enables carers to predict, diagnose, and react to adverse events earlier than ever. The concept of Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) was introduced to fully exploit the benefits of wireless technologies in telemedicine and m-health. The main focus of this research is the design and performance evaluation of strategies and architectures that would allow seamless and efficient interconnection of patient’s body area network and the stationary (e.g., hospital room or ward) wireless networks. I first introduce the architecture of a healthcare system which bridges WBANs and Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs). I adopt IEEE 802.15.6 standard for the patient’s body network because it is specifically designed for WBANs. Since IEEE 802.15.6 has strict Quality of Service (QoS) and priorities to transfer the medical data to the medical server a QoS-enabled WLAN for the next hop is needed to preserve the end-to-end QoS. IEEE 802.11e standard is selected for the WLAN in the hospital room or ward because it provides prioritization for the stations in the network. I investigate in detail the requirements posed by different healthcare parameters and to analyze the performance of various alternative interconnection strategies, using the rigorous mathematical apparatus of Queuing Theory and Probabilistic Analysis; these results are independently validated through discrete event simulation models. This thesis has three main parts; performance evaluation and MAC parameters settings of IEEE 802.11e Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA), performance evaluation and tuning the MAC parameters of IEEE 802.15.6, and designing a seamless and efficient interconnection strategy which bridges IEEE 802.11e EDCA and IEEE 802.15.6 standards for a healthcare system.

The purpose of this study is to develop an improved human radiation exchange model for use by planners and researchers. Although applicable for all environments, emphasis will be on urban areas. All processes of radiation exchange between the human body surface and surrounding environments were investigated through human body area factors (effective radiation area factor, feff, and projected area factor, fp), existing human thermal exchange models and three-dimensional (3D) computer simulation models with collected microclimatic data. For new body area factors, a sample of standing contemporary Canadian adults in normal-weight (male: 31 persons, female: 40) and over-weight (male: 48, female: 20) body mass index (BMI) categories were analyzed. A 3D mean body model was created for each category. Only very small differences in feff and fp were found between genders and BMI categories. Differences in feff and fp values between this study and previous studies were very large, up to 0.101 and 0.173, respectively. Another common body posture, walking, was also studied for the normal-weight male and female BMI categories. 3D computer walking body models at four stride positions were created. The directionless fp values for walking posture had minor differences between genders and positions in a stride. However, the differences of mean directional fp values between azimuth angles were great enough (up to 0.072) to create important differences in modeled radiation receipt. When both standing and walking postures are considered, the mean feff value of standing (0.826) and walking (0.846), 0.836, could be used. However, fp values should be selected carefully because differences between directional and directionless fp values were large enough that they could influence the estimated level of human thermal sensation. A new human radiation exchange model was developed using the new body area factors and compared with five existing models and one method (Burt, COMFA, MENEX, OUT_SET* and RayMan models and the six-directional method) using collected microclimatic data observed in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Most differences between models came from absorbed solar radiation, especially absorbed direct beam solar radiation because of differences in fp* (=fp×feff) and feff or some missing components (feff or view factors). The lowest differences between the new model and the RayMan model alter the net all-wave radiation estimate up to 29 Wm-2, which can be significant in the human thermal exchange model. For 3D computer estimation, a new human-urban radiation exchange simulation model was developed combining the new human radiation exchange model and improved urban area factors (i.e., albedos and view factors of sunny and shaded building, ground and vegetation surfaces). The results of the new computer model were compared with microclimatic data collected in Nanaimo, B.C., Canada and Changwon, Republic of Korea as well as with two other 3D computer simulation programs, RayMan Pro and ENVI-met 3.1. The differences between the collected data and the new model were very small. Their correlation was very strong, over 0.99 for total radiation. RayMan Pro and ENVI-met 3.1 programs had larger differences, and their correlations with measured data were weaker than the new model’s. Accurate meteorological and urban setting data should be obtained for better results. The new model will give planners and researchers a simple tool to estimate accurate radiation effects in complex urban areas. / Graduate

Αντικείμενο της διπλωματικής εργασίας είναι η μελέτη της συμπεριφοράς των WBAN (Wireless Body Area Networks) σαν μέρος του συστήματος παρακολούθησης υγείας ασύρματης τηλεϊατρικής. Αρχικά γίνεται σύντομη αναφορά στον τρόπο χρήσης των WBAN για την πραγματοποίηση της ιδέας της mHealth (mobile health) καθώς και σε ενδεικτικά ερευνητικά προγράμματα της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης που περιλαμβάνουν χρήση της τεχνολογίας WBAN και της τεχνολογίας ασύρματων εμφυτεύσιμων αισθητήρων για εφαρμογές ιατρικής περίθαλψης, ενώ στη συνέχεια γίνεται περιγραφή της αρχιτεκτονικής του συστήματος ασύρματης τηλεϊατρικής. Έπειτα, περιγράφεται η αρχιτεκτονική των δύο βασικότερων πρωτοκόλλων επικοινωνίας για ασύρματους κόμβους αισθητήρων, Bluetooth Low Energy και ZigBee/IEEE 801.15.4 και αναλύεται το επίπεδο εφαρμογής του πρωτοκόλλου ZigBee. Τέλος, περιγράφεται η αρχιτεκτονική του ασύρματου κόμβου αισθητήρων και παρουσιάζονται και περιγράφονται οι τυπικές συσκευές που χρησιμοποιούνται σε ένα WBAN ιατρικής περίθαλψης. / The purpose of my diploma thesis was the study of WBAN (Wireless Body Area Networks) as part of the wireless telemedicine health-monitoring system. I focused on the architecture of the integrated telemedicine system, the architecture of the two main communication protocols used in WBANs, Bluetooth LE and ZigBee/IEEE 801.15.4, and the specification of the ZigBee Application Layer. Finally, I described the typical architecture of the wireless sensor node and the typical devices that are used in a health WBAN.

The trend towards personalized ubiquitous computing has led to the advent of a new generation of wireless technologies, namely wireless body area networks (WBANs), which connect the wearable devices into the Internet-of-Things. This thesis considers the problems of relay selection and power control in fading WBANs with energy-efficiency and security considerations. The main body of the thesis is formed by two papers. Ideas from probability theory are used, in the first paper, to construct a performance measure signifying the energy efficiency of transmission, while in the second paper, information-theoretic principles are leveraged to characterize the transmission secrecy at the wireless physical layer (PHY). The hypothesis is that exploiting spatial diversity through multi-hop relaying is an effective strategy in a WBAN to combat fading and enhance communication throughput. In order to analytically explore the problems of optimal relay selection and power control, proper tools from game theory are employed. In particular, non-cooperative game-theoretic frameworks are developed to model and analyze the strategic interactions among sensor nodes in a WBAN when seeking to optimize their transmissions in the uplink. Quality-of-service requirements are also incorporated into the game frameworks, in terms of upper bounds on the end-to-end delay and jitter incurred by multi-hop transmission, by borrowing relevant tools from queuing theory. The proposed game frameworks are proved to admit Nash equilibria, and distributed algorithms are devised that converge to stable Nash solutions. The frameworks are then evaluated using numerical simulations in conditions approximating actual deployment of WBANs. Performance behavior trade-offs are investigated in an IEEE 802.15.6-based ultra wideband WBAN considering various scenarios. The frameworks show remarkable promise in improving the energy efficiency and PHY secrecy of transmission, at the expense of an admissible increase in the end-to-end latency.

Patient’s mobility throughout his lifetime leaves a trial of information scattered in laboratories, clinical institutes, primary care units, and other hospitals. Hence, the medical history of a patient is valuable when subjected to special healthcare units or undergoes home-care/personal-care in elderly stage cases. Despite the rhetoric about patient-centred care, few attempts were made to measure and improve in this arena. In this thesis, we will describe and implement a high-level view of a Patient Centric information management, deploying at a preliminary stage, the use of Agent Technologies and Grid Computing. Thus, developing and proposing an infrastructure that allows us to monitor and survey the patient, from the doctor’s point of view, and investigate a Persona, from the patients’ side, that functions and collaborates among different medical information structures. The Persona will attempt to interconnect all the major agents (human and software), and realize a distributed grid info-structure that directly affect the patient, therefore, revealing an adequate and cost-effective solution for most critical information needs. The results comprehended in the literature survey, consolidating Healthcare Information Management with emerged intelligent Multi-Agent System Technologies (MAS) and Grid Computing; intends to provide a solid basis for further advancements and assessments in this field, by bridging and proposing a framework between the home-care sector and the flexible agent architecture throughout the healthcare domain.

Récemment la bande 60 GHz a été mise en avant pour le développement des réseaux de communication sans fil centrés sur le corps humain. Cet intérêt de la bande 60 GHz pour les applications BAN (Body Area Network) s'explique par les avantages clefs qu'elle procure par rapport aux bandes de fréquence plus basses (possibilité de débits de données supérieurs à 7 Gbit/s, réduction des interférences avec les réseaux voisin, compacité des dispositifs, etc). Le nombre d'application de communication BAN est amené à croître dans les années à venir avec le déploiement de la 5ème génération de réseaux de télécommunications mobiles. Afin de protéger efficacement les utilisateurs des expositions générées par ces applications BAN à 60 GHz, il est nécessaire de se pencher sur les problématiques de réduction du couplage corps/antennes, mais également sur l'évaluation et la quantification du niveau d'exposition du corps à 60 GHz. Pour cela, les travaux de thèse ont été organisés suivant trois axes de recherche : le premier consiste à mettre en évidence et à quantifier l'impact de certains choix de conception en matière d'antennes sur le couplage avec le corps humain ; le second porte sur les outils et les méthodes utilisés pour estimer l'impact thermique d'une exposition électromagnétique 60 GHz sur le fantôme équivalent de la peau ; et le troisième propose une nouvelle approche à la fois dosimétrique et thermique pour évaluer et analyser le couplage corps/antennes en bande millimétrique. / The 60-GHz frequency band has been identified recently as attractive for body centric wireless communication development. Indeed, this band has several key advantages compared to lower frequency bands as high data rates above 7 Gbit/s, low risks of interference with neighboring wireless networks and compact devices. With the development of the future 5th generation of mobile networks in the millimeter-wave band, the number of BAN applications at 60 GHz should increase. To avoid health effects and protect user against an electromagnetic exposure of BAN devices at 60 GHz, the reduction of the coupling between human body and antennas, as well as the evaluation and quantification of exposure are main research aspect of the thesis. The main thesis contributions are divided in three parts: a quantification of antenna design effects on the interactions between human body and antennas; a study of tools and methods used to assess thermal effects due to 60 GHz exposure on a skin-equivalent phantom; and a new dosimetric and thermal approach to evaluate interaction between human body and BAN antennas at 60 GHz.

Abstract This thesis proposes cross-layer approaches which enable to improve energy efficiency of wireless sensor networks and wireless body area networks (WSN & WBAN). The focus is on the physical (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) layers of communication protocol stack and exploiting their interdependencies. In the analysis of the PHY and MAC layers, their relevant characteristics are taken into account, and cross-layer models are developed to study the effect of these layers on energy efficiency. In addition, cross-layer analysis is applied at the network level by addressing hierarchical networks' energy efficiency. The objective is to improve energy efficiency by taking into account that substantial modifications to current standards and techniques are not required to take advantage of the proposed methods. The studied scenarios of WSN take advantage of the wake-up radio (WUR). A generic WUR-based MAC (GWR-MAC) protocol with objective to improve energy efficiency by avoiding idle listening is proposed. First, the proposed cross-layer model is developed at a general level and applied to study the forward error correction (FEC) code rate selection effect on the length of the transmission period and energy efficiency in a star topology network. Then an energy efficiency model for intelligent hierarchical architecture based on GWR-MAC is proposed and performance comparison with a duty-cycle radio (DCR) approach is performed. Interactions between different layers' devices are taken into account, and the WUR and DCR approaches are compared as a function of event frequency. The third cross-layer model focuses on the effect of the FEC code rate and data packet payload length on the energy efficiency of the IEEE Std 802.15.6-based WBANs using IR-UWB PHY. The results acquired by using analytical modelling and simulations with the Matlab software clearly illustrates the potential energy gains that can be achieved with the proposed cross-layer approaches. The developed WUR-based MAC protocol, analytical models and achieved results can be exploited by other researchers in the WSN and WBAN field. The contribution of this thesis is also to stimulate further research on these timely topics and foster development of short-range communication, which has a crucial role in future converging networks such as the Internet of Things. / Tiivistelmä Tässä väitöskirjassa ehdotetaan protokollakerrosten välistä tietoa hyödyntäviä (cross-layer) lähestymistapoja, jotka mahdollistavat energiatehokkuuden parantamisen langattomissa sensori- ja kehoverkoissa. Työ kohdistuu fyysisen- ja kanavanhallintakerroksen välisen vuorovaikutuksen tutkimiseen. Fyysisen- ja kanavanhallintakerrosten analyysissä huomioidaan niiden tärkeimmät ominaisuudet ja tutkitaan kerrosten yhteistä energiatehokkuutta. Lisäksi kerrosten välistä analyysiä sovelletaan verkkotasolle tutkimalla hierarkkisen verkon energiatehokkuutta. Tavoitteena on energiatehokkuuden parantamisen mahdollistaminen siten, että merkittäviä muutoksia nykyisiin standardeihin ja tekniikoihin ei tarvitse tehdä hyödyntääkseen ehdotettuja menetelmiä. Tutkitut sensoriverkkoskenaariot hyödyntävät heräteradiota. Väitöskirjassa ehdotetaan geneerinen heräteradiopohjainen kanavanhallintaprotokolla (GWR-MAC), jolla parannetaan energiatehokkuutta vähentämällä turhaa kanavan kuuntelua. Kerrosten välinen malli kehitetään ensin yleisellä tasolla ja sen avulla tutkitaan virheenkorjauskoodisuhteen valinnan vaikutusta lähetysperiodin pituuteen ja energiatehokkuuteen tähtitopologiaan pohjautuvissa sensoriverkoissa. Sitten väitöskirjassa ehdotetaan energiatehokkuusmalli älykkäälle GWR-MAC -protokollaan perustuvalle hierarkkiselle arkkitehtuurille ja sen suorituskykyä vertaillaan toimintajaksoperiaatteella toimivaan lähestymistapaan. Eri kerroksilla olevien laitteiden väliset vuorovaikutukset huomioidaan heräteradio- ja toimintajaksoperiaatteella toimivien verkkojen suorituskykyvertailussa tapahtumatiheyden funktiona. Kolmas malli kohdistuu virheenkorjauskoodisuhteen ja datapaketin hyötykuorman pituuden energiatehokkuusvaikutuksen tutkimiseen IEEE 802.15.6 -standardiin perustuvissa langattomissa kehoverkoissa. Analyyttinen mallinnus ja Matlab-ohjelmiston avulla tuotetut simulointitulokset osoittavat selvästi energiatehokkuushyödyt, jotka saavutetaan ehdotettuja menetelmiä käyttämällä. Kehitetty GWR-MAC -protokolla, analyyttiset mallit ja tulokset ovat hyödynnettävissä sensori- ja kehoverkkotutkijoiden toimesta. Tämän väitöskirjan tavoitteena on myös näiden ajankohtaisten aiheiden jatkotutkimuksen stimulointi sekä lyhyen kantaman viestinnän kehityksen vauhdittaminen, sillä niillä on erittäin merkittävä rooli tulevaisuuden yhteen liittyvissä verkoissa, kuten esineiden ja asioiden Internetissä.

No description available.

The master thesis is a prototyping project of a wireless body area network (WBANs) for patient monitoring in hospitals. The goal of this project was to study various technologies suitable for wireless body area networks, complete a requirement analysis, design a WBAN suitable to achieve the requirements and to test and evaluate the system against the requirements. Seven sensor end nodes are chosen to monitor seven vital signs for patient monitoring. After studying different technologies suitable for WBANs, IEEE 802.15.4j was chosen because it communicates in a special allocation of medical spectrum of 2360 to 2400MHz. A coordinator or master will be the center of the network using a star topology. Due to certain limitations in the firmware of the NXP FRDMKW40Z, IEEE 802.15.4j had to be dropped and IEEE 802.15.4 was the final chosen technology because the only difference between IEEE 802.15.4j and IEEE802.15.4 is the difference in the physical layer, while the developed application remains the same, making the shift back to IEEE802.15.4j, in the future, simple. There have been several projects working on the same idea with IEEE 802.15.4, but they do not combine multiple sensors to form a network and the total throughput requirements for this thesis project are much higher. The beacon mode and the non-beacon mode of IEEE 802.15.4 are studied. Non beacon mode is unpredictable due to the use of carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) to access the medium. When multiple end nodes compete to get access to the medium, unreliability is introduced into the system. In the beacon mode, because of the slotted CSMA access of sixteen equally spaced time slots for communication, there is a restriction of the size of a time slot and thus, the high throughput requirement of the system is not met. The solution proposed in the thesis project is to develop a custom time slot system in the non-beacon mode, where each end node is granted a reserved time slot of a specific length as required by the end node. There is a timer mechanism which makes sure that the time slots for each device maintain the time limit on the time slot, on the side of the main master/coordinator of the network and on the side of the end node. The protocol for an end node to join a personal area network (PAN) is called as the association process. The association process enables the end node to be a part of a PAN to exchange its sensor data. Traditionally, in IEEE 802.15.4, the end nodes scan the sixteen IEEE 802.15.4 channels and when an appropriate coordinator is found, the end node initiates the association process with the coordinator. The solution proposed for the formation of the network by the association process is to use two different technologies. The end nodes and the coordinator exchange information using near field communication (NFC) technology by a simple tapping mechanism. The end node has an active NFC tag while the coordinator has an NFC reader. During the tap between the two devices, first the coordinator reads the end node data from the active tag. This data is required to form the custom time slot. Next the coordinator writes all association information into the active tag. After the NFC data exchange is done, the end node initiates the traditional IEEE 802.15.4 association protocol to join the coordinator’s PAN. Similarly after seven end nodes are associated to the coordinator, the network begins to function. All the end nodes communicate their data to the coordinator. The coordinator collects all the sensor data from the seven end nodes and may send the cumulative sensor data to the backend database servers which may be viewed by the medical authorities, this part is not included in the current version of the project. Several tests are run on this system to evaluate the requirements of latency, throughput and quality of service with two different ranges of 20cm and 250cm. The latency of association between the coordinator and end node is 632ms. The required throughput is met by the network. The packet delivery rate of the system is always above 99%. The graphs for packet delivery rates for all the sensors with a range of 20cm and 250 cm are shown in the appendices. The probabilities for the packet delivery rates greater than 90%, 99%, 99.9% and 99.99% are also graphically shown using a normal distribution in the appendices.

This work aims to introduce a methodology for the virtual assessment of inertial measurement unit (IMU)-based Body-Attached Sensor Networks (BASNs) for gesture recognition. This design framework consists of three main parts: (i) multibody modelling of the human upper body, (ii) simulation of human gestures along with data acquisition from modelled IMUs, and (iii) determination of the optimal number of sensors to include in the network along with their placements on the body. By using simulation, the boundary conditions of BASNs can be assessed in a short time without the need for costly and time-consuming user studies.