Various simulation studies for wireless body area networks (WBANs) based on the IEEE 802.15.6 standard have recently been carried out. However, most of these studies have applied a simplified model without using any major components specific to IEEE 802.15.6, such as connection-oriented link allocations, inter-WBAN interference mitigation, or a two-hop star topology extension. Thus, such deficiencies can lead to an inaccurate performance analysis. To solve these problems, in this study, we conducted a comprehensive review of the major components of the IEEE 802.15.6 standard and herein present modeling strategies for implementing IEEE 802.15.6 MAC on an NS-3 simulator. In addition, we configured realistic network scenarios for a performance evaluation in terms of throughput, average delay, and power consumption. The simulation results prove that our simulation system provides acceptable levels of performance for various types of medical applications, and can support the latest research topics regarding the dynamic resource allocation, inter-WBAN interference mitigation, and intra-WBAN routing.
Keywords: IEEE 802.15.6; NS-3 implementation; wireless body area networks (WBAN).