iM-SIMPLE: iMproved stable increased-throughput multi-hop link efficient routing protocol for Wireless Body Area Networks

Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) are envisaged to play crucial role in psychological, medical and non-medical applications. This paper presents iM-SIMPLE; a reliable, and power efficient routing protocol with high throughput for WBAN. We deploy sensor nodes on human body to measure the physiological parameters such as blood pressure, temperature, glucose, lactic acid, EMG, acceleration, pressure, and position. Data from sensors is forwarded to intermediate node, from where it is transmitted to sink. An end user can access the required information available at sink via internet. To minimize energy consumption of the network, we utilize multi-hop mode of communication. A cost function is introduced to select the forwarder; node with high residual energy and least distance to sink has minimum cost function value and is selected. Residual energy parameter balances the energy consumption among the sensor nodes, and least distance improves packet delivery to sink because of reduced less path loss. We formulate the minimum energy consumption and high throughput problems as an Integer Linear Program. In order to support mobility, we also consider two body postures. Simulation results confirm the performance advantage of iM-SIMPLE compared to contemporary schemes in terms of maximizing stability period and throughput of the network. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd