Interoperability and Security in Wireless Body Area Network Infrastructures

Steve Warren, 1Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, Jeffrey Lebak, 1Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, Jianchu Yao, Department of Technology Systems, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, Jonathan Creekmore, 2Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL, and Aleksandar Milenkovic, 2Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL

8/01/2008
(Original Publish Date: 9/4/2005)

Wireless body area networks (WBANs) and their supporting information infrastructures offer unprecedented opportunities to monitor state of health without constraining the activities of a wearer. These mobile point-of-care systems are now realizable due to the convergence of technologies such as low-power wireless communication standards, plug-andplay device buses, off-the-shelf development kits for low-power microcontrollers, handheld computers, electronic medical records, and the Internet. To increase acceptance of personal monitoring technology while lowering equipment cost, advances must be made in interoperability (at both the system and device levels) and security.