Error Rate Based Analytical Switchover Approach for Multi-homed Body Sensor Networks

For patients who have undergone cardiovascular surgery it is necessary to monitor vital signs such as respiration, oxygen in the blood, temperature, and electrocardiogram (ECG) in real time. As well as the sensor device, many existing solutions need a bulky coordinating unit like a PDA located on the patient for network communication. In this paper we investigate an infrastructure mode based approach in which the wireless sensor, communicates directly with the wireless access point. Our investigation particularly focuses on how the emerging technology, Media Independent Handover (MIH) can be used by the wireless sensor to manage path migration. Since MIH does not implement the physical handover we also use the mobility enabled Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP). We analyze how MIH link quality triggers, in particular Error Rate, can be used to improve SCTP switchover performance in body sensor networks.