BAN: intra-BAN and inter-BAN

Abstract: Body Area Networking (BAN) is a field of networking in which communication takes place between different sensors or network elements or other electronic equipment at the nodes within the body called intra-BAN and between two or more bodies called inter-body BAN. The movement of data or information or packets between nodes is mainly wireless or through the length, breadth and height of the body (this is still a challenge as the human body is a very good conductor of electricity and acts as a short between an electronic component and ground). There are many other types of networks like PAN (Personal Area Network), LAN (Local Area Network), WAN (Wide Area Network), MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) and global network. The above classification is mainly based on the scale of distance or area (Spatial scope). Body Area Network (BAN) is a special type of network used to facilitate communication within a single body/autonomous body or between two or more autonomous human bodies. BAN is a new type of network architecture made feasible by novel advances on lightweight, small size, ultra-low-power, and intelligent monitoring wearable sensors. In this paper we have made serious efforts to simulate both inter-BAN and intra-BAN using wireless technologies, Routing protocols and Network Simulator tools (NS tools). Each human body is considered to be an Autonomous System as compared to another body with its own autonomous BAN. In this paper we have made successful attempts to connect logically divided areas together using Virtual-Links thereby enabling packet transmission between two autonomous areas running their own IGP and using wireless protocols like Bluetooth, IR or Wi-Fi. We have also carried out experiments/trails to make both intra-BAN and inter-BAN secure and data encrypted.

Keywords: PAN (Personal Area Network), LAN (Local Area Network), WAN (Wide Area Network), MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) and global network, Network Simulator tools, intra-BAN, inter-BAN and wireless.