Comparisons of Transmission Power Control Algorithms in Wireless Body Sensor Systems

In wireless body sensor systems (WB-SNSs), all sensor nodes need energy-efficient techniques due to battery limitations. The transmission power control (TPC) algorithm is a representative technique to reduce energy consumption in WB-SNSs. But the sophisticated control of transmission power is very difficult because of many factors such as sensor placements and human motions. So, we must consider these factors for efficient TPC algorithms. However, previous researches in TPC algorithms have concentrated on just one or two factors in the static environment so that the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms is very limited. Therefore, in this paper, we compare previous TPC algorithms with diverse environments. We analyze the received signal strength indication (RSSI) pattern and energy consumption of representative TPC algorithms in view of the interaction of sensor placements and human motions.