Body Area Network Scheduling for Low-Power Transmit-Only Sensors
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Solution Overview
Problem
Body area networks face challenges in balancing power consumption, data rate, and latency for battery-powered wearable sensors, particularly in medical applications where stringent requirements exist for data security, interoperability, and performance.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of transmit-only radios with low power modes, such as BLE, and the use of wakeup radios to manage power consumption, along with channel arbitration techniques for efficient data collection, allows for scheduled transmissions and optimized power usage in body area networks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If battery-powered wearable sensors are used in body area networks, then data collection and transmission can be performed, but power consumption increases and battery life is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the battery component entirely by using energy harvesting techniques that capture ambient energy (motion, temperature differential, RF energy) to power the sensors, eliminating the need for replaceable or rechargeable batteries and thus removing the battery life limitation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic power management where sensors and transmitters adjust their operation modes based on available harvested energy, activity levels, and data priority, switching between low-power modes, periodic sampling, and active transmission states to optimize the balance between power consumption and data collection
2Productivity
If multiple sensors transmit data simultaneously in body area networks, then data rate increases, but interference increases and power consumption rises
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic time-division multiplexing where multiple sensors transmit data in sequentially assigned time slots rather than simultaneously, with each sensor activated only during its designated transmission window, thereby eliminating inter-sensor interference and reducing overall power consumption while maintaining high aggregate data rates
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary configuration and scheduling of transmission time slots during an initialization phase, establishing a predetermined transmission schedule for all sensors before data collection begins, which optimizes channel usage and minimizes interference without requiring complex real-time arbitration
3Device complexity
If transmit-only devices are used in body area networks, then device complexity and power consumption decrease, but communication flexibility is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal data collector device that performs multiple functions including receiving data from transmit-only sensors, processing and aggregating sensor data, managing network configuration and time slot scheduling, and communicating with external systems, thereby compensating for the limited functionality of individual transmit-only sensors at the system level
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces the data collector device as an intermediary that mediates all communication between transmit-only sensors and external systems, centralizing reception, processing, and decision-making functions to maintain system flexibility and adaptability despite the simplified transmit-only architecture of individual sensors
Data Source
AI summary
Configuring and utilizing a body area network (BAN) is provided. In a configuration phase, configuration messages are sent for scheduling a plurality of transmit-only devices such that during a data collection phase each of the plurality of transmit-only devices is configured to transmit in an individually-assigned time slot. In the data collection phase, a data collector device receives, from the plurality of transmit-only devices, sensor data messages including sensor data from the transmit-only devices, the sensor data messages being scheduled according to the configuration phase.