ZTE

ZTE Communications ›› 2014, Vol. 12 ›› Issue (3): 13-21.DOI: DOI:10.3969/j.issn.1673-5188.2014.03.002

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MAC Layer Resource Allocation forWireless Body Area Networks

Qinghua Shen1, Xuemin (Sherman) Shen1, Tom H. Luan2, and Jing Liu3   

  1. 1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada;
    2. School of Information Technology, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia;
    3. Department of Electronic Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
  • Received:2014-03-31 Online:2014-09-25 Published:2014-09-25
  • About author:Qinghua Shen (q2shen@uwaterloo.ca) received his BS degree and MS degree in electrical engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology, China, in 2008 and 2010. He is currently working toward his PhD degree in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada. His research interests include resource allocation for e-healthcare system and cloud computing.

    Xuemin (Sherman) Shen (sshen@uwaterloo.ca) received his BSc (1982) degree from Dalian Maritime University, China, in 1982. He received his MSc degree (1987) and PhD degree (1990) in electrical engineering from Rutgers University, USA, in 1987 and 1990. He is professor and university research chair in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada. Dr. Shen’s research focuses on resource management in interconnected wireless/wired networks, wireless network security, social networks, smart grid, and vehicular ad hoc and sensor networks. He has chaired or co-chaired many committees of international IEEE conferences and is the editor-in-chief of IEEE Network, Peer-to-Peer Networking and Applications, and IET Communications. He has also been the founding editor, associate editor, or guest editor for many other peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Shen is a registered professional engineer in Ontario, Canada; fellow of the IEEE; fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada; fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering; and distinguished lecturer at the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society and IEEE Communications Society.

    Tom H. Luan (tom.luan@deakin.edu.au) received his BE degree from Xi'an Jiaotong University, China, in 2004. He received his MPhil degree from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, in 2007. He received his PhD degree from the University of Waterloo, Canada, in 2012. He currently lectures on mobile and applications in the School of Information Technology, Deakin University, Australia. His research interests include mobile cloud computing, mobile application and service development, vehicular networking, and wireless content distribution.

    Jing Liu (Jingliu_lj@stju.edu.cn) received her BS, MS and PhD degrees from Xidian University, China, in 1998, 2001 and 2005. Since July 2005, she has worked in the Department of Electronic Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. She is currently an associate professor at Shaighai Jiao Tong University. From 2012 to 2013, she was a visiting professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada. Her current research interests include wireless body area networking, wireless sensor networking,
  • Supported by:
    This research has been supported by a research grant from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) under grant No. CRDPJ 419147-11, and Care In Motion Inc., Canada.

MAC Layer Resource Allocation forWireless Body Area Networks

Qinghua Shen1, Xuemin (Sherman) Shen1, Tom H. Luan2, and Jing Liu3   

  1. 1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada;
    2. School of Information Technology, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia;
    3. Department of Electronic Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
  • 作者简介:Qinghua Shen (q2shen@uwaterloo.ca) received his BS degree and MS degree in electrical engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology, China, in 2008 and 2010. He is currently working toward his PhD degree in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada. His research interests include resource allocation for e-healthcare system and cloud computing.

    Xuemin (Sherman) Shen (sshen@uwaterloo.ca) received his BSc (1982) degree from Dalian Maritime University, China, in 1982. He received his MSc degree (1987) and PhD degree (1990) in electrical engineering from Rutgers University, USA, in 1987 and 1990. He is professor and university research chair in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada. Dr. Shen’s research focuses on resource management in interconnected wireless/wired networks, wireless network security, social networks, smart grid, and vehicular ad hoc and sensor networks. He has chaired or co-chaired many committees of international IEEE conferences and is the editor-in-chief of IEEE Network, Peer-to-Peer Networking and Applications, and IET Communications. He has also been the founding editor, associate editor, or guest editor for many other peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Shen is a registered professional engineer in Ontario, Canada; fellow of the IEEE; fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada; fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering; and distinguished lecturer at the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society and IEEE Communications Society.

    Tom H. Luan (tom.luan@deakin.edu.au) received his BE degree from Xi'an Jiaotong University, China, in 2004. He received his MPhil degree from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, in 2007. He received his PhD degree from the University of Waterloo, Canada, in 2012. He currently lectures on mobile and applications in the School of Information Technology, Deakin University, Australia. His research interests include mobile cloud computing, mobile application and service development, vehicular networking, and wireless content distribution.

    Jing Liu (Jingliu_lj@stju.edu.cn) received her BS, MS and PhD degrees from Xidian University, China, in 1998, 2001 and 2005. Since July 2005, she has worked in the Department of Electronic Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. She is currently an associate professor at Shaighai Jiao Tong University. From 2012 to 2013, she was a visiting professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada. Her current research interests include wireless body area networking, wireless sensor networking,
  • 基金资助:
    This research has been supported by a research grant from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) under grant No. CRDPJ 419147-11, and Care In Motion Inc., Canada.

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Abstract: Wireless body area networks (WBANs) can provide low-cost, timely healthcare services and are expected to be widely used for ehealthcare in hospitals. In a hospital, space is often limited and multiple WBANs have to coexist in an area and share the same channel in order to provide healthcare services to different patients. This causes severe interference between WBANs that could significantly reduce the network throughput and increase the amount of power consumed by sensors placed on the body. Therefore, an efficient channel-resource allocation scheme in the medium access control (MAC) layer is crucial. In this paper, we develop a centralized MAC layer resource allocation scheme for a WBAN. We focus on mitigating the interference between WBANs and reducing the power consumed by sensors. Channel and buffer state are reported by smartphones deployed in each WBAN, and channel access allocation is performed by a central controller to maximize network throughput. Sensors have strict limitations in terms of energy consumption and computing capability and cannot provide all the necessary information for channel allocation in a timely manner. This deteriorates network performance. We exploit the temporal correlation of the body area channel in order to minimize the number of channel state reports necessary. We view the network design as a partly observable optimization problem and develop a myopic policy, which we then simulate in Matlab.

Key words: medium access control (MAC), wireless body area networks (WBANs), resource allocation, interference mitigation, partially observable optimization

摘要： Wireless body area networks (WBANs) can provide low-cost, timely healthcare services and are expected to be widely used for ehealthcare in hospitals. In a hospital, space is often limited and multiple WBANs have to coexist in an area and share the same channel in order to provide healthcare services to different patients. This causes severe interference between WBANs that could significantly reduce the network throughput and increase the amount of power consumed by sensors placed on the body. Therefore, an efficient channel-resource allocation scheme in the medium access control (MAC) layer is crucial. In this paper, we develop a centralized MAC layer resource allocation scheme for a WBAN. We focus on mitigating the interference between WBANs and reducing the power consumed by sensors. Channel and buffer state are reported by smartphones deployed in each WBAN, and channel access allocation is performed by a central controller to maximize network throughput. Sensors have strict limitations in terms of energy consumption and computing capability and cannot provide all the necessary information for channel allocation in a timely manner. This deteriorates network performance. We exploit the temporal correlation of the body area channel in order to minimize the number of channel state reports necessary. We view the network design as a partly observable optimization problem and develop a myopic policy, which we then simulate in Matlab.

关键词: medium access control (MAC), wireless body area networks (WBANs), resource allocation, interference mitigation, partially observable optimization