Toward Dependable Internet of Medical Things: IEEE 802.15.6 Ultra-Wideband Physical Layer Utilizing Superorthogonal Convolutional Code

Abstract

Wireless body area networks (WBANs) are attracting attention as a very important technology for realizing an Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). IEEE 802.15.6 is well known as one of the international standards for WBANs for the IoMT. This article proposes the combination of the IEEE 802.15.6 ultra-wideband (UWB) physical layer (PHY) with a super orthogonal convolutional code (SOOC) and evaluates its performance as a dependable WBAN. Numerical results show that sufficient dependability cannot be obtained with the error-correcting code specified in IEEE 802.15.6 when applying the single pulse option, while both high energy efficiency and dependability can be obtained by applying an SOCC. In addition, it is confirmed that higher dependability can be obtained by combining an SOCC with a Reed–Solomon (RS) code with a coding rate that is almost the same as the error correction code specified in the standard. Furthermore, the results indicate that high dependability and energy efficiency can be obtained by adjusting the SOCC coding rate and UWB PHY parameters, even in the burst pulse option. The SOCC-applied UWB PHY of this research satisfies the high requirements of the IoMT.

Performance Evaluation of an On-Body Wireless Body Network Based on an Ultra-Wideband Physical Layer under a Dynamic Channel Model

“…Ref. [38] confirmed the higher dependability obtained by concatenating an SOCC and a Reed-Solomon (RS) code under additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) and the WBAN channel model referenced in [30].…”

“…Our own previous research presented a quality-of-service (QoS) control scheme utilizing decomposable codes for an IEEE 802.15.6 based UWB-WBAN [37]. In addition, our previous research reported a performance evaluation in terms of the transmission failure ratio and energy efficiency for the UWB PHY of IEEE 802.15.6 under the application of a super-orthogonal convolutional code (SOCC) [38]. Ref.…”

“…On the other hand, this work newly evaluates the physical layer performance of UWB-WBAN assuming an on-body dynamic channel model, which was not done in the above studies. The UWB band is classified into two groups: one is a low band (channels 0-2), and another is a high band (channels 3-10) [16,38]. Those bands are also divided into operating channels, each with a bandwidth of 499.2 MHz, as presented in Figure 1.…”

“…This is because this channel has little interference with other wireless communication systems and can be used outdoors [33]. The UWB band is classified into two groups: one is a low band (channels 0-2) another is a high band (channels 3-10) [16,38]. Those bands are also divided into oper channels, each with a bandwidth of 499.2 MHz, as presented in Figure 1.…”

“…The UWB physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) is formed of a synchronization header (SHR), a physical layer header (PHR), and a physical layer service data unit (PSDU), as illustrated in Figure 2 [16,38].…”