Comprehensive Survey of Routing Protocols for Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs)

Abstract

Wireless body area networks (WBANs) are one of the applications of IoT that deal with the remote transmission of patient data. The health-related data is of highly sensitive nature. The loss of critical data packets might lead a patient to an embarrassing position. Therefore, WBANs require a secure and efficient data transmission mechanism. However, wireless transmission traditionally remains vulnerable to many security attacks such as node misbehavior attack. Routing protocols play a key role in the extended network lifetime. However, efficient data routing in WBAN is a challenging task. In addition, sensor nodes due to wireless communication produce electromagnetic radiation that is absorbed by the human body and results in temperature rise. Therefore, routing protocols along with security issues must consider temperature rise to ensure safe wireless transmission. In this chapter, the authors present a comprehensive review of most relevant security and privacy concerns and relevant routing protocols addressing the aforementioned routing issues.