An Energy-Efficient MAC Protocol for Wireless Wearable Computer Systems

A recent major development in computer technology is the advent of the wearable computer system, which is based on human-centric interface technology trends and ubiquitous computing environments [1, 2]. Wearable computer systems use the wireless universal serial bus (WUSB), which refers to USB technology that is merged with WiMedia physical layer and medium access control layer (PHY/MAC) technical specifications. WUSB can be applied to wireless personal area network (WPAN) applications as well as wired USB applications such as PAN. WUSB specifications have defined high-speed connections between a WUSB host and WUSB devices for compatibility with USB 2.0 specifications [3, 4]. A wireless body area network (WBAN), which describes the application of wearable computing devices, allows the integration of intelligent, miniaturized, low-power, invasive/ on-invasive sensor nodes that monitor body functions and the surrounding environment. Each intelligent node has sufficient capability to process and forward information to a base station for diagnosis and prescription [5]. J. lnf. Commun. Converg. Eng. 11(1): 7-11, Mar. 2013 Review papers