A Dual-channel routing protocol for wireless body area networks

Wireless Body Area networks (WBANs) are a subset of wireless sensor networks that interconnect miniaturized nodes with sensor or actuator capabilities in, on, or around a human body. WBANs can operate over a number of different frequency bands such as MICS (Medical Implant Communications system), 2.4 GHz ISM (Industrial Scientific and Medical), UWB (Ultra Wideband), HBC (Human Body Communications) bands. Most WBANs utilize only one of these wireless bands for routing, network access, etc. Fading conditions can result in poor network performance in terms of node energy and throughput. With recent interest in multi-band devices for WBANs such as multi-band antennas and transceivers effective utilization of multiple bands requires an equally effective routing protocol. In this paper we develop a multi-channel extension to the Ad Hoc on Demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing protocol for use in multi-channel WBANs that chooses the next hop channel that has the best Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) value. Our extensions to AODV were implemented by modifying the single-band Castalia model built on the OMNeT++ network simulator. We compared our dual channel AODV protocol with RSSI channel selection against a dual channel AODV with random channel selection and single channel AODV. Our simulation experiments showed that in terms of packet delivery dual channel AODV with RSSI performs equally with single channel AODV but with a lower overhead of AODV control packets, better routing stability and slightly better energy per bit efficiency.