Overview

WBAN is a special kind of network which is designed and developed for the human body to monitor, manage and communicate different vital signs of the human body like temperature, blood pressure and ECG etc. These vital signs can be monitored by using different sensors installed on clothes, or on the body or even under human skin. Any kind of life-saving drug can be injected using actuator installed on the human body like, to control the blood pressure, temperature etc. Central unit is responsible to establish communication between sensors, actuators and cellular phone in wireless fashion. Cellular phone of that person can be used to transmit all information to and from the human body to the external world (physician, emergency). This kind of wireless personal network around and near the human body is called Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) where each body is assigned an IP address. The role of WBAN in medicine is to minimize the need for caregivers and help the chronically ill and elderly people live an independent life, besides providing people with quality care. It will offer flexibilities and cost saving options to both health care professionals and patients.

Figure 1 shows the Architectural Block diagram of a WBAN. There are a number of non-evasive sensors worn on the body. These sensors collect data and pass it through the wireless Personal Device (PD) or smart phone to the central monitoring server.
 
Next to sensing devices, the patient has actuators, which act as drug-delivery systems. The medicine can be delivered on predetermined moments, triggered by an external source (i.e. a doctor who analyzes the data) or immediately when sensors notice a problem.
 
 
(This service definition has been contributed by Kavita Kamesh.)

(Figure. 1 Example of a Body Area Network)

More details about this topic (e.g., different models, definitions, approaches, etc)

HARDWARE ARCHITECTURE
 
Here we see a prototype Health Monitoring system. Figure 2 shows a photograph of the prototype components. This prototype system which is fully operational has two activity sensors (ActiS), an integrated ECG and tilt sensor (eActiS) and a personal server. Each sensor node includes a custom application specific board and uses the Tmote sky platform for processing and ZigBee wireless communication. The personal server runs either on a laptop computer or a WLAN/WWAN-enabled handheld PocketPC. 

(Figure. 2 Prototype WBAN)
MAJOR WBAN DOMAINS OF APPLICATION
 
There are various WBAN applications which are giving quality to human life. Some of them are discussed below.
 
For medical treatment and diagnosis/Patient  Monitoring
 
WBAN is very useful for diagnosis or treatment of diseases. A few examples are as follows
  1. Cardiovascular diseases - Cardiovascular disease refers to various medical conditions that affect the heart and blood vessels. The conditions include heart attack, heart failure, stroke, coronary artery disease. This disease is the leading cause of mortality in the developed world. 
  2. Cancer - Cancer is now one of the biggest threats to the human life. A WBAN with a set of miniaturized sensors can be used to differentiate between different types of cells and identifying cancerous cells, enabling physicians to diagnose tumours without biopsy. By placing sensors in suspected locations, doctors can start treatment as soon as a cancer cell is detected.
  3. Diabetes - Diabetes can yield other complicated diseases like heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, blindness, and kidney. A biosensor implanted in the patient could provide a more consistent, accurate, and less invasive method by monitoring glucose levels.  A sudden drop of glucose can be detected by a WBAN sensor and a signal can be sent to the actuator in order to start the insulin injection.  Frequent monitoring enables proper dosing and reduces the risk of fainting and in later life blindness, loss of circulation and other complications.
All the above examples already illustrate the need for continuous monitoring and the usefulness of WBANs. Numerous other examples of diseases which would benefit from continuous or prolonged monitoring, are Hypertension, Asthma, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Renal failure, post-operative monitoring, stress-monitoring, prevention of sudden infant death syndrome etc .  A WBAN allows continuous monitoring of the physiological parameters. Whether the patient is in the hospital, at home or on the move, the patient will no longer need to stay in bed, but will be able to move around freely. Furthermore, the data obtained during a large time interval in the patient's natural environment offers a clearer view to the doctors than data obtained during short stays at the hospital.

For safeguarding of Uniform Personnel - WBAN can be used by fire-fighters, policemen or in a military environment. The WBAN monitors the level of toxics in the air and warns the fire-fighters or soldiers if a life-threatening level is detected.
For assisting the disabled - A WBAN can also be used to offer assistance to the disabled. For example, a paraplegic can be equipped with sensors determining the position of the legs or with sensors attached to the nerves. In addition, actuators positioned on the legs can stimulate the muscles. Interaction between the data from the sensors and the actuators makes it possible to restore the ability to move. Another example is aid for the visually impaired; an artificial retina, consisting of a matrix of micro sensors, can be implanted into the eye beneath the surface of the retina. The artificial retina translates the electrical impulses into neurological signals. The input can be obtained locally from light sensitive sensors or by an external camera mounted on a pair of glasses.
 
Consumer Electronics - Next to purely medical applications, a WBAN can include appliances such as an MP3-player, head-mounted (computer) displays, Microphone, Camera, Advanced human-computer interfaces such as a neural interface etc.  As such, the WBAN can also be used for gaming purposes and in virtual reality.
 
WBAN Application for Training schedules of professional athletes
 
WBAN further enables to tune more effectively the training schedules of professional athletes.
 
 
Virtual Doctor Server

Figure 3 illustrates the concept of a Virtual Doctor Server that is based on WBAN architecture as shown in Figure 1. The VDS integrates various applications of WBAN to manage the health service provided to the patient and provides assistance to health care service providers in emergency situations.