On-Body and Off-Body Communications: A Comparative Study Between Hardware and Simulations

Area of Science:

• Wireless communication
• Biomedical engineering
• Computer networking

Background:

• Limited hardware for IEEE 802.15.6 wireless body area network (WBAN) research necessitates reliance on simulations.
• The practical validity of WBAN simulation results remains uncertain due to hardware limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a configurable radio platform for validating GMSK-based narrowband WBAN physical layer (PHY) performance.
• To compare theoretical calculations, ns-3 simulations, and hardware measurements for WBAN communication.
• To assess the accuracy of ns-3 simulations against hardware measurements in on-body and off-body scenarios.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a configurable radio platform for GMSK-based narrowband WBAN PHY validation in the 420-450 MHz band.
• Conducted comparative analysis involving theoretical calculations, ns-3 simulations, and hardware measurements.
• Evaluated performance across on-body and off-body scenarios with transmit powers ranging from -15 to -25 dBm.

Main Results:

• Lower transmit power consistently reduced communication range in both simulated and hardware environments.
• Packet success rate degradation trends were similar across simulated and hardware environments, supporting simulation credibility.
• ns-3 simulations overestimated communication range by approximately 10 m compared to hardware in off-body scenarios.

Conclusions:

• The ns-3 simulation framework provides a reproducible and effective tool for approximating GMSK-based WBAN PHY behaviors.
• Simulation results demonstrate credibility, though specific differences in range estimates, particularly for off-body scenarios, were identified.
• This validation enhances the reliability of simulation-based research for future WBAN studies.