Simulating IEEE 802.15.6 based Wireless Body Area Network Interference using NS2 Platform for Indian Scenario

Abstract

A recent data suggest that currently there are more than 485 million wearable sensors or gadgets users in the world and expected to increase in the near future. The communication technologies used in these gadgets are either Wi-Fi or Blue-Tooth. These wireless technologies have inherent limitations to be used in Health Monitoring. Also, these technology gadgets are not being considered and accepted by medical practitioners for e-health monitoring. To address this issue, in 2012 IEEE 802.15.6 standard has been introduced to develop future of e-health monitoring which paves its way to Wireless Body Area Networks (WBAN) developments. India, being populated country, WBAN can be extremely useful technology to reduce burden on health care system. WBAN research has gained importance in India, where most of the research is focused on sensor development and monitoring. The network level studies focusing on interference phenomenon are rare to find. In this paper, a focus is on developing an interference scenario in simulation environment. This interference study provided deep insight into the dynamics of co-existing WBANs where its adverse effects are observed on energy consumption, delay and throughput.