A new Network Coordinator Node Design Selecting the Optimum Wireless Technology for Wireless Body Area Networks

Abstract

This paper proposes a new network coordinator node design to select the most suitable wireless technology for WBANs by using fuzzy logic. Its goal is to select a wireless communication technology available considering the user/application requirements and network conditions. A WBAN is composed of a set of sensors placed in, on, or around human body, which monitors the human body functions and the surrounding environment. In an effort to send sensor readings from human body to medical center or a station, a WBAN needs to stay connected to a local or a wide area network by using various wireless communication technologies. Nowadays, several wireless networking technologies may be utilized in WLANs and/or WANs each of which is capable of sending WBAN sensor readings to the desired destination. Therefore, choosing the best serving wireless communications technology has critical importance to provide quality of service support and cost efficient connections for WBAN users. In this work, we have developed, modeled, and simulated some networking scenarios utilizing our fuzzy logic-based NCN by using OPNET and MATLAB. Besides, we have compared our proposed fuzzy logic based algorithm with widely used RSSI-based AP selection algorithm. The results obtained from the simulations show that the proposed approach provides appropriate outcomes for both the WBAN users and the overall network.