Patient Data Prioritization in the Cross-Layer Designs of Wireless Body Area Network

Table 3

MAC functionalities comparison of IEEE 802.15.4 and IEEEE 802.15.6 [22].

Objectives	MAC 802.15.4	MAC 802.15.6
Environment	Sensors monitor various environments like home appliances, automatic operations, and battlefield but can be used for health domain as well	Sensors monitor patient body for the health condition, sports, and game
Network deployment range	10 to 100 meters	2 to 5 meters
Network coverage	Large	Medium
Min-to-max sensors support	10 to 65000	3 to 256
Energy consumption	20 mW to 35 mW	0.01 mW to 40 mW
Frequency band	ISM	Approved by medical authorities for in/on-body
Data transmission medium	Air	Air, on-body, and in-body
Data transmission rate	20 Kb/sec to max. 250 Kb/sec	50 Kb/sec to 10 Mb/sec
Safety for in/out organs of human body	No, but can use the specific absorption rate (SAR)	Yes, use of the SAR
Access scheme	CSMA/CA, TDMA, FDMA, and Aloha	CSMA/CA, TDMA, and Aloha
Controls overhead	Low	High