Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) is an emerging medical health monitoring technology. However, WBANs encounter critical challenges in balancing reliability, energy efficiency, and Quality of Service (QoS) requirements for life-critical medical data. The design of its Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol has challenges since dynamic body-shadowing effects and heterogeneous traffic patterns. In this paper, we propose the Nash Bargaining Rate-optimization MAC (NBR-MAC), a hybrid MAC protocol that integrates TDMA-based Guaranteed Time Slots (GTS) with CSMA/CA-based contention access. Unlike traditional schemes, we model the rate allocation as an Asymmetric Nash Bargaining Game, introducing a rigorous disagreement point to guarantee minimum service for critical nodes. The utility function is normalized to resolve dimensional inconsistencies, incorporating sensor priority, buffer status, and channel quality. The Nash Bargaining solution is derived after proving convexity and verifying the axioms. Superframe time slots are allocated based on sensor data priority. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed protocol enhances transmission success ratio and throughput while reducing packet age and energy consumption under different load conditions.
Source: Sensors
DOI: 10.3390/s26030967
Authors: Haoru Su, Jiale Yang, Rong Li, Jian He
Institution: Beijing University of Technology
Language: English
Topic: Wireless Body Area Networks
Subfield: Biomedical Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,137
Award: G2612123135
OpenAlex ID: W7127380484