Body area networks and technologies

Excerpt

Body Area Networks (BAN) are formed by networks of devices, which are placed on or in close vicinity of the human body, and in the case of some specialized medical applications, inside the body as implants. Technologies for BANs have gained significant international interest in recent years from researchers both in academia and industry. This has been driven in no small part by the huge potential for commercial exploitation and the prospect of technologically revolutionizing everyday life. The future applications that will benefit from advances in BAN technology include healthcare, fitness, sports, security, and interactive gaming. One key area where BANs are already having a considerable impact is Ambient Assisted Living (AAL). By adopting BAN technologies, AAL has begun to improve quality of life and provide much greater independence for today's aging society. Here, wearable sensors and actuators with a wireless interface are noninvasively worn by the user and wirelessly connected to a gateway, either cellular or internet, to provide real-time health information remotely to medical staff or to other family members. …