Fading characterization for Context Aware Body Area Networks (CABAN) in interactive smart environments

Body Area Networks are unique in that the large-scale mobility of users allows the network itself to travel across a diverse range of operating domains. This presents the possibility of creating interactive smart environments where Context Aware Body Area Networks can sense and co-operate with nearby wireless networks. This paper describes an investigation of the physical layer characteristics for a user within a 'smart' office environment. A series of carefully controlled measurements of the mesh interconnectivity both within and between an ambulatory body area network and a stationary desk-based network were performed using 2.45 GHz nodes. The measurement system was capable of simultaneously characterising both off-body and on-body channels. The results show that model selection for fading characterization was often arbitrary due to the divergence of the empirical data to that of the fading distributions. It has also been identified that not all the reciprocal links follow the same distribution, a concern for physical layer protocol design.