roboBAN: A Wireless Body Area Network for Autonomous Robots

Abstract

In this paper we describe a Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) designed and implemented for an autonomous robot. We concentrate in particular on the ultra-low power radio aspects. We compare and contrast standard and proprietary solutions before deciding on a proprietary radio SoC in the 2.4 GHz. band. We describe the protocol implementation and tests on both a test jig and on the robot itself at sampling rates of up to 1 kHz. and conclude that the principle of a robot based WBAN works well. We also show that the proposed WBAN is suitable for connection by nodes employing energy harvesting.