Performance Evaluation of an Enhanced Uplink 3.5G System for Mobile Healthcare Applications

The present paper studies the prospective and the performance of a forthcoming high-speed third generation (3.5G) networking technology, called enhanced uplink, for delivering mobile health (m-health) applications. The performance of 3.5G networks is a critical factor for successful development of m-health services perceived by end users. In this paper, we propose a methodology for performance assessment based on the joint uplink transmission of voice, real-time video, biological data (such as electrocardiogram, vital signals, and heart sounds), and healthcare records file transfer. Various scenarios were concerned in terms of real-time, nonreal-time, and emergency applications in random locations, where no other system but 3.5G is available. The accomplishment of quality of service (QoS) was explored through a step-by-step improvement of enhanced uplink system's parameters, attributing the network system for the best performance in the context of the desired m-health services

Performance Analysis of a Two-Hop MIMO Mobile-to-Mobile via Stratospheric-Relay Link Employing Hierarchical Modulation

Next generation wireless communication networks intend to take advantage of the integration of terrestrial and aerospace infrastructures. Besides, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) architecture is the key technology, which has brought the wireless gigabit vision closer to reality. In this direction, high-altitude platforms (HAPs) could act as relay stations in the stratosphere transferring information from an uplink to a downlink MIMO channel. This paper investigates the performance of a novel transmission scheme for the delivery of mobile-to-mobile (M-to-M) services via a stratospheric relay. It is assumed that the source, relay, and destination nodes are equipped with multiple antennas and that amplify-and-forward (AF) relaying is adopted. The performance is analyzed through rigorous simulations in terms of the bit-error rate (BER) by using a recently proposed 3D geometry-based reference model in spatially correlated flat-fading MIMO channels, employing a hierarchical broadcast technique and minimum mean square error (MMSE) receivers

A Framework for the Estimation and Validation of Energy Consumption in Wireless Sensor Networks

Body sensor networks and implantable and ingestible medical devices energy efficiency is a substantial key factor in network lifetime and functionality. This work confronts the nodes’ energy problem by establishing a unified energy consumption framework comprised of theoretical model, energy simulator model, and electronic metering modules that can be attached to the nodes. A theoretical analysis, a simulation procedure, and the design and development of three prototype electronic metering modules are presented in this paper. We discuss the accuracy of the proposed techniques, towards a unified framework for the a priori estimation of the energy consumption in commercial sensor nodes, taking into account the application functionality and the energy properties of the incorporated electronics. Moreover, body network nodes are considered for the application and the measurements of the proposed framework