A Spectrum-Aware Priority-Based Link Scheduling Algorithm for Cognitive Radio Body Area Networks

Abstract

With the development of wireless communication technology, wireless body area networks (WBANs) have become a fundamental support tool in medical applications. In a real hospital scenario, however, the interference between wireless medical devices and WBANs may cause a high packet drop rate and high latency, which is harmful to patients using healthcare services. Nonetheless, cognitive radio is a promising technology for sharing the precious spectrum, which has high efficiency of the wireless resource. Thus, WBANs with cognitive radio capability are also exploited. We propose a spectrum-aware priority-based link scheduling (SPLS) algorithm for cognitive radio body area networks (CRBANs) in a real hospital scenario. In SPLS, three channels are used: DataCh, EDataCh, and CtrlCh for normal data, emergency data, and control messages, respectively. To avoid collision during data transmission, neighboring CRBANs send messages regarding the channel state with CtrlCh before the scheduling. The CRBANs can share DataCh in the time domain for improving the throughput. The SPLS algorithm allows a CRBAN to access idle channels on the licensed and unlicensed spectrum according to the CRBAN traffic. Our simulation results show that the proposed SPLS outperformed the conventional scheme in terms of packet delivery ratio, system throughput, latency, and energy efficiency.

Energy-Efficient Protocol of Link Scheduling in Cognitive Radio Body Area Networks for Medical and Healthcare Applications

“…The network area is divided into nine rooms [3]; each room has one PU and several CRBANs. We compare ELS to spectrum-aware priority-based link scheduling (SPLS) algorithm [12], and channel selection algorithm for multiple WBANs and the applications of the Internet of Things (IoT) [13]. In [12], the SPLS algorithm aims to assign CRBANs to different channels.…”

“…We compare ELS to spectrum-aware priority-based link scheduling (SPLS) algorithm [12], and channel selection algorithm for multiple WBANs and the applications of the Internet of Things (IoT) [13]. In [12], the SPLS algorithm aims to assign CRBANs to different channels. In [13], the channel selection algorithm will select the idle channel for WBAN transmission to avoid interference among IoT devices and WBANs.…”

“…The packet arrival rate is set to 2 p/s. The path loss parameters are set as follows: d0 = 1cm, n = 3.23, µ = 0, and σ = 4.85 [12]. Transmission bandwidth is 1 MHz and transmission noise N 0 = −94 dBm.…”

“…However, WBANs are densely deployed in a limited area, which leads to the need for a scheduling algorithm to achieve higher probabilities of successful transmissions. In [11,12], the scheduling algorithm aims to assign a predefined time or channel for the transmission of each CRBAN. In [11], the centralized scheduling algorithm is used at the gateway in order to assign data channels to CRBANs.…”

“…In [11], the centralized scheduling algorithm is used at the gateway in order to assign data channels to CRBANs. In [12], the distributed scheduling algorithm is applied at CRBANs in which each CRBAN exchanges messages to its neighbors before scheduling the transmission of CRBANs. As a result, the transmission of each CRBAN is improved in terms of success ratio and latency.…”