Intra-bodyhybrid communication scheme for healthcare systems

Abstract: Intra-body communication (IBC) is a type of Body Area Network (BAN)that utilizes human body as the medium for data transmission. Thelow power requirements of intra-body communication (IBC) as compared to near field electromagnetic waves showed that it can be a suitable solution for Medical Body Area Networks (MBANs) in a mobile health care system.In this paper, we investigate the transmission characteristics of the human body as a conductor of signals by considering different data transmission rates of multi-point to point network in order to reduce overall power consumption of the BAN.Furthermore, we utilize IBC and propose a new scheme to combines Slotted ALOHA, TDMA, and Reservation ALOHA together to increase the throughput and decrease the delay. By using our new hybrid scheme with the movable boundary designed for health status monitoring, we are able to increase the efficiency of data transmission by prioritizing the more critical data from the sensors.