Overview and Key Features of BSNs
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Contents |
Overview
A key capability of any assisted living technology system is the ability to sense. This can take the form of direct measurement of biometric parameters e.g. ECG (electro cardiograph) or indirectly through tracking a person's interaction with their physical environment e.g. movement using accelerometers. Research in recent years has presented the concept of the body sensor network BSN which individual sensors connected together normally via wireless network such as 802.15.4 are used to deliver a comprehensive view of a person's state of wellbeing. The majority of wireless sensor platforms share a common set of system components:
- Microcontroller - Provides the computational capabilities to the platform.
- Communications - Provides low power wireless communications
- Sensor interfaces - hardware interfaces to external sensor boards
- Memory - External memory e.g. mirco SD card
- Power Supply - e.g. Lithium ion battery.
- Sensing e.g. acceleration
- BSN Operating Systems and Development environments
Key Features
Ren et al [1] described the key features of Wireless Body Sensor Networks for medical applications as follows:
- Reliability of the sensing system and overall network.
- Biocompatibility - How well the sensor devices interact with the human body.
- Portability - How flexible and mobile the sensor network system is.
- Privacy and security - How well the network protects personal privacy (health data) and maintains data integrity (i.e. robustness).
- Light weight protocols - How efficient the network is in operation i.e. minimal 'overhead'
- Retrievability - How easy it is to recover the sensing node, change a battery etc.
- Energy aware communication - How 'smart' the network system is regarding optimising power (for minimising power consumption).
- Prioritized traffic - How efficient the network is at routing traffic on a hierarchical basis.
- RF radiation safety - The network should not expose surrounding areas (e.g. the body in WBSN applications) to dangerous levels of RF radiation.
These aspects will be dealt with in detail in the section Design Aspects of BSNs.
Available Sensor Nodes
Follow this link on Available Sensor Nodes for a list of both Academic and Commercial available Wireless Sensor Network Nodes.
Available Sensor Nodes and Corresponding Operating Systems
Follow this CAPSIL link for a list of Available Sensor Nodes matched to corresponding operating systems. A brief annotation of the key features of the Operating systems are also given.
BSNs Operating Systems and Development Environments
Follow this CAPSIL link for a list of Sensors Network operating systems and development environments. Operating systems include TinyOS, Cntiki and Mantis. Development environments include Labview, Viptos and BioMOBIUS.
References
- ↑ Hongliang Ren et al. "System Architecture of a Body Area Network and Its Web Service Based Data Publishing".Advanced Web and Network Technologies, and Applications. Springer Berlin / Heidelberg. ISBN 978-3-540-31158-4. Pages 947-954.
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