Contention vs. polling: a study in body area networks MAC design

ABSTRACT

Medium Access Control design for Body Area Networks is challenging due to the uniqueness of the wireless channel characteristics (highly variable in time) and the need for ultra low power while maintaining reasonable performance. Using our temporal BAN channel models we study trade-offs created by a mix of two MAC techniques: i) contention-based access, and ii) polling-based access. By using these techniques at different proportions we see how performance and energy consumption vary. The results reveal design trade-offs in the packet delivery vs. latency vs. consumed energy space. Moreover, we show how optimal points for packet delivery vary depending on the traffic. Finally, explaining the results offers important insight into the behaviour of these techniques under BAN conditions as well as more general issues with medium access for BAN. This insight translates to concrete design suggestions to build more efficient MAC protocols.

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Index Terms

• Computing methodologies

  • Modeling and simulation

    • Simulation evaluation

• Networks

  • Network protocols

    • Protocol correctness

      • Protocol testing and verification

  • Network types

    • Mobile networks

    • Wireless access networks