MoBAN: a configurable mobility model for wireless body area networks

A good mobility model is an essential prerequisite for performance evaluation of protocols for wireless networks with node mobility. Sensor nodes in a Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) exhibit high mobility. The WBAN topology may completely change because of posture changes and movement even within a certain type of posture. The WBAN also moves as a whole in an ambient network. Therefore, an appropriate mobility model is of great importance for performance evaluation. This paper presents a comprehensive configurable mobility model MoBAN for evaluating intra-and extra-WBAN communication. It implements different postures as well as individual node mobility within a particular posture. The model can be adapted to a broad range of applications for WBANs. The model is made available through http://www.es.ele.tue.nl/nes/, as an add-on to the mobility framework of the OMNeT++ simulator. Two case studies illustrate the use of the mobility model for performance evaluation of network protocols.