https://www.science.smith.edu/~jcardell/Courses/EGR328/Readings/WSNSurvey2.pdf

Wireless sensor network survey

The increasing use of wireless networks and the constant miniaturization of electrical devices has empowered the development of Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs). In these networks various sensors are attached on clothing or on the body or even implanted under the skin. The wireless nature of the network and the wide variety of sensors offer numerous new, practical and innovative applications to improve health care and the Quality of Life. The sensors of a WBAN measure for example the heartbeat, the body temperature or record a prolonged electrocardiogram. Using a WBAN, the patient experiences a greater physical mobility and is no longer compelled to stay in the hospital. This paper offers a survey of the concept of Wireless Body Area Networks. First, we focus on some applications with special interest in patient monitoring. Then the communication in a WBAN and its positioning between the different technologies is discussed. An overview of the current research on the physical layer, existing MAC and network protocols is given. Further, cross layer and quality of service is discussed. As WBANs are placed on the human body and often transport private data, security is also considered. An overview of current and past projects is given. Finally, the open research issues and challenges are pointed out.

/pdf/a-survey-on-wireless-body-area-networks-f3nx5ii4yv.pdf

A survey on wireless body area networks

Recent technological advances in sensors, low-power microelectronics and miniaturization, and wireless networking enabled the design and proliferation of wireless sensor networks capable of autonomously monitoring and controlling environments. One of the most promising applications of sensor networks is for human health monitoring. A number of tiny wireless sensors, strategically placed on the human body, create a wireless body area network that can monitor various vital signs, providing real-time feedback to the user and medical personnel. The wireless body area networks promise to revolutionize health monitoring. However, designers of such systems face a number of challenging tasks, as they need to address often quite conflicting requirements for size, operating time, precision, and reliability.

In this paper we present hardware and software architecture of a working wireless sensor network system for ambulatory health status monitoring. The system consists of multiple sensor nodes that monitor body motion and heart activity, a network coordinator, and a personal server running on a personal digital assistant or a personal computer.

/pdf/system-architecture-of-a-wireless-body-area-sensor-network-3nc1v0tm39.pdf

System architecture of a wireless body area sensor network for ubiquitous health monitoring

As wireless sensor networks have emerged as a exciting new area of research in computer science, many of the logistical challenges facing those who wish to develop, deploy, and debug applications on realistic large-scale sensor networks have gone unmet. Manually reprogramming nodes, deploying them into the physical environment, and instrumenting them for data gathering is tedious and time-consuming. To address this need we have developed MoteLab, a Web-based sensor network testbed. MoteLab consists of a set of permanently-deployed sensor network nodes connected to a central server which handles re programming and data logging while providing a Web interface for creating and scheduling jobs on the testbed. MoteLab accelerates application deployment by streamlining access to a large, fixed network of real sensor network devices; it accelerates debugging and development by automating data logging, allowing the performance of sensor network software to be evaluated offline Additionally, by providing a Web interface MoteLab allows both local and remote users access to the testbed, and its scheduling and quota system ensure fair sharing. We have developed and deployed MoteLab at Harvard and found ft invaluable for both research and teaching. The MoteLab source is freely available, easy to install, and already in use at several other research institutions. We expect that widespread use of MoteLab will accelerate and improve wireless sensor network research.

/pdf/motelab-a-wireless-sensor-network-testbed-23lx0rwavr.pdf

MoteLab: a wireless sensor network testbed

The wireless body area network has emerged as a new technology for e-healthcare that allows the data of a patient's vital body parameters and movements to be collected by small wearable or implantable sensors and communicated using short-range wireless communication techniques. WBAN has shown great potential in improving healthcare quality, and thus has found a wide range of applications from ubiquitous health monitoring and computer assisted rehabilitation to emergency medical response systems. The security and privacy protection of the data collected from a WBAN, either while stored inside the WBAN or during their transmission outside of the WBAN, is a major unsolved concern, with challenges coming from stringent resource constraints of WBAN devices, and the high demand for both security/privacy and practicality/usability. In this article we look into two important data security issues: secure and dependable distributed data storage, and fine-grained distributed data access control for sensitive and private patient medical data. We discuss various practical issues that need to be taken into account while fulfilling the security and privacy requirements. Relevant solutions in sensor networks and WBANs are surveyed, and their applicability is analyzed.

Data security and privacy in wireless body area networks

Sensor networks, a new class of devices has the potential to revolutionize the capture, processing, and communication of critical data for use by first responders. CodeBlue integrates sensor nodes and other wireless devices into a disaster response setting and provides facilities for ad hoc network formation, resource naming and discovery, security, and in-network aggregation of sensor-produced data. We designed CodeBlue for rapidly changing, critical care environments. To test it, we developed two wireless vital sign monitors and a PDA-based triage application for first responders. Additionally, we developed MoteTrack, a robust radio frequency (RF)-based localization system, which lets rescuers determine their location within a building and track patients. Although much of our work on CodeBlue is preliminary, our initial experience with medical care sensor networks raised many exciting opportunities and challenges.

/pdf/sensor-networks-for-emergency-response-challenges-and-25gfdlp1ho.pdf

A. Nawoj

Papers

Sensor networks for emergency response: challenges and opportunities