Body Area Network and Its Standardization at IEEE 802.15.MBAN

Wireless communication networking technologies play an important role in supporting ubiquitous networks. Body area network (BAN) is a small-scale wireless communication network, which is considered as a potential technology to provide extremely high quality and convenience for people in a more direct manner. This paper foresees some aspects of BAN. Possible application areas and usage models are overviewed. Some wireless communication technologies are compared for their suitability in supporting BAN. Moreover, a prototype BAN was developed for transmission of three-dimensional accelerating data. Finally, a group of IEEE 802.15.MBAN for standardization on medical BAN is introduced. Some activities of this group are reviewed.