Introduction
Smart Body Area Network (BAN) technology uses small, low power wireless devices that can be carried on the body like wearables or embedded inside the body like implants. Applications include medical, health improvement, personal safety and well-being, as well as sport and leisure applications. Here are a few examples use cases:
- health and wellness monitoring
- sports training (e.g., to measure performance)
- personalized medicine (e.g., heart monitors)
- personal safety (e.g., fall detection)
Various challenges have been identified that hinder BAN communications development. For example, solutions that may be suitable for monitoring people during exercise one or two hours a day, or a few days a week, fall short of what is needed for 24/7 health monitoring in the Internet of Things (IoT).
A number of wireless BAN communication technologies have been implemented based on the existing radio technologies. However, if BAN technology is to achieve its full potential, it needs a more specific and dedicated technology, which is optimized for BAN.
OUR ROLE & ACTIVITIES
In ETSI Technical Committee SmartBAN, we are working on standardising a more specific and dedicated technology, optimized for BAN. Our aim is to enable the features needed for BAN applications:
- ultra-low-power radio
- low-complexity Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol for extended autonomy
- enhanced robustness in the presence of interference
- high security, privacy and trust
- interoperability at different levels and when communicating over heterogeneous networks in the future IoT
Our scope includes communication media, and associated physical layer, network layer, security, data interoperability, QoS, and the provision of generic applications and services (e.g., web).
Our standardisation work covers ultra-low-power radio communications, a lower complexity Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol for extended autonomy and enhanced robustness in the presence of interference, and the definition of interoperable data structures and formats enabling interoperability when communicating over heterogeneous networks in the IoT.
Future Smart BANs will exist within a wider IoT environment. Noting this coexistence, ETSI TC SmartBAN extended its work via contributions to various bodies, both within ETSI (including SmartM2M and ERM TG 30), as well as external bodies including AIOTI (Alliance for the Internet of Things Innovation), IEC TC 124 (wearable electronic devices and technologies) and IEC SyC AAL (Active Assisted Living), Bluetooth Special Interest Group (BT SIG), H2020 ACTIVAGE (Active & Healthy Ageing IoT based solutions and services) and the ITEA’s CareWare project.
STANDARDS
A full list of related standards in the public domain is accessible via the SmartBAN committee page.