Energy-Aware Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication for Healthcare IoT in Beyond 5G and 6G Networks

Ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) is a cornerstone of beyond 5G and future 6G networks, particularly for mission-critical applications such as the healthcare Internet of Things. In applications such as remote surgery, emergency services, and real-time health monitoring, it is imperative to ensure stringent latency and reliability requirements. However, the energy constraints of wearable and implantable medical devices pose stringent challenges to conventional URLLC methods. This paper proposes an energy-aware URLLC framework that dynamically prioritizes healthcare traffic to optimize transmission energy and reliability. The framework integrates a priority-aware packet scheduler, adaptive transmission control, and edge-enabled reliability management. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations are carried out on various network loads and varying edge computing delays to evaluate performance metrics, like latency, throughput, reliability score, energy consumption, delay violation rate, and Jain's fairness index. Results illustrate that the suggested technique achieves lower latency, energy consumption, and delay violation rates and higher throughput and reliability scores, sacrificing Jain's fairness index graciously at peak network overload. This study is a potential research lead for green URLLC in healthcare IoT systems to come.