WBAN Characterization

As a part of one of our members’ thesis, the B105 Electronic Systems Lab has compiled a dataset of empirical measurements analyzing the performance of several WBAN channels. These measurements were obtained with real hardware nodes (Yetimote) with wireless interfaces in three ISM bands: 433 MHz, 868 MHz and 2.4 GHz. The dataset characterizes the behavior of WBAN channels during four different static and dynamic activities: standing, sitting, cycling and walking. In the experiments, the effect of several parameters was evaluated: frequency, transmit power and node placement along the body, for three different human subjects.

The performance of all WBAN links was evaluated by compiling the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) and the packet reception rate (PRR) metrics, obtained from the normal wireless communication between two nodes, sender and receiver, worn by the subjects while they carried out the different activities. The receiver node was always located on the subject’s left hip, while the sender node was placed either at their right wrist or their right ankle for the different measurements. For each of the possible transmit power levels, the sender node sent a particular number of packets to the receiver at a particular sending period.

For more information about the experiments that resulted in the dataset you may take a look at the following article:

A. Rozas, A. Araujo, and J. M. Rabaey, “Analyzing the Performance of WBAN Links during Physical Activity Using Real Multi-Band Sensor Nodes,” Applied Sciences, vol. 11, iss. 7, 2021.

The complete dataset in MS Excel can be found HERE. The different file names follow the following convention: wbanChar_datetime_activity_[subject]_nodePlacement_XXms_YY_ZZ.xlsx, where:

  • datetime: the date and time when that particular measurement was taken in the format yyyyMMdd_HHmmss (CET time zone).
  • activity: one of the possible four activities: standing, sitting, cycling or walking
  • [subject]: for the walking activity the subject that carried out the measurements. It’s either subjectA (female, 33 years old, 166 cm), subjectB (female, 56, 160 cm) or subjectC (male, 42, 189 cm)
  • nodePlacement: location of the sender node, either wrist or ankle.
  • XX: the sending period in milliseconds, aka the time between each consecutive sending of a packet by the sender to the receiver.
  • YY: the number of packets sent from the sender to the receiver for each transmit power level in that particular measurement.
  • ZZ: the frequency band in MHz, either 433, 868 or 2400 (2.4 GHz).

For any questions you may contact Alba Rozas at albarc@b105.upm.es.