Wearable Computing

1Body Sensor Networks

1.1 Introduction

This chapter provides an overview of the state‐of‐the‐art and technology in the field of wireless body sensor networks (BSNs). After introducing the motivations and the potential applications of this emerging technology, the chapter focuses on the analysis of the architecture of sensor nodes, communication techniques, and energy issues. We will then present and compare some of the programmable sensing platforms that are most commonly used in the context of wireless sensor networks (WSNs), and in particular those applied to remote monitoring of patients. The chapter also contains an analysis of relevant vital human signals and physical sensors used for their recording. Finally, the chapter presents the hardware/software characteristics that must be taken into consideration during the design stages of a healthcare monitoring system based on BSNs. For instance, important characteristics are sensor wearability, biocompatibility, energy consumption, security, and privacy of the acquired biophysical information.

1.2 Background

The widespread use of mobile applications for patient monitoring over the last few years is radically changing the approach to the health care. In today’s society, this is gaining an increasingly important role in the prevention of diseases; the convenience, for instance in terms of health‐care costs, is significant. The BSN technology makes often use of mobile applications that allow for the transmission to a coordinator node, ...