ABSTRACT
The widespread use of communication and information technologies is rapidly affecting conventional healthcare systems, which are designed to react to and manage illnesses. Wireless body area networks (WBANs) need to incorporate low-power and miniature sensors, processors, and wireless transmitters for nonintrusive monitoring and long-term operation. The shared nature of the wireless medium makes interference a key issue to be taken into account in the design of wireless systems. Modeling of propagation and interference for radio waves can be an extremely complex task. The chapter reviews the built-in mechanisms in different standards that can help with mitigating the harmful effects of interference and coexistence. When wireless channels become increasingly crowded, the interference from other networks may reduce the potential throughput and reliability. When the single-hop star topology is broken, the standard allows a single relay between the sensor and the coordinator. WBANs have become the dominant implementation technology for ubiquitous health monitoring.
