An Improved Packet Switching Technique for Mitigating Gateway Failures in Wireless Body Area Networks

Abstract

Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) have gained attention as a promising technology for healthcare applications. However, one of the key challenges in WBANs is the reliability of the gateway device which serves as a bridge between the WBAN and the external network. This research has proposed a technique for the gateway failure problem which occurs when a default gateway fails to transmit packets to the medical server due to unforeseen circumstances such as loss of network, and power interruption during continuous packet transmission. This research has proposed a method called redundant gateway architecture (RGA) in which a backup gateway is introduced as an aide for the default gateway and automatically continues the task of packet transmission whenever the default gateway is out of service until it’s back to function. RGA uses a failover mechanism to detect gateway failures. We evaluate the RGA in real-time with ECG, temperature sensor, pulse sensor, ESP8266, and ESP37 microcontrollers and the results show that the proposed architecture can effectively handle gateway failures in WBANs with a high delivery ratio and low latency. The RGA architecture demonstrated superior performance compared to other methods, particularly in terms of packet delivery ratio, attributed to its ability to minimize packet loss throughout the routing process. This has enhanced the reliability of WBAN data and enabled the seamless delivery of healthcare services.