Design and analysis of an energy-efficient human body channel network for healthcare applications

Abstract

The body sensor network using human body as a communication medium is analyzed and designed to achieve both power-efficient and energy-efficient healthcare system. Analysis of the body channel network on frequency, distance, transmitting power and received power is performed. The analysis reveals the star topology consumes less energy than the ad-hoc topology for healthcare system using body channel network. The duty-cycle controlled scheduling (DCCS), an energy-efficient protocol for the body channel network is proposed. A healthcare system exploiting the body channel network using DCCS is implemented, and the base station and the sensor node consume less than 8 mW at 0.9 V and 105.1 μW at 3.3 V power supply, respectively.