A Study of MAC Protocols for WBANs Based on Markov Chain

The IEEE 802.15.4 standard is specifically devised to support low power, low data rate in relation to Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN). A WBAN provides long-term health monitoring of a patient without any constraint on his/her normal daily life activities. This monitoring requires the low-power operation medical sensor body area networks. So, this paper proposes an improved back off algorithm in slotted CSMA/CA, to dynamically change the minimum contention window each time CSMA/CA begins, according to the network load conditions.