Date of Award

2015

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

College of Technology

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in the United States. Advances in wireless technology have made possible the remote monitoring of a patient's heart sensors as part of a body area network. Previous studies have suggested that stray wireless transmissions in the industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band cause interference resulting in packet loss in Bluetooth piconets. This study investigates the impact that wireless transmissions from residential microwave ovens have on the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) component of the body area network. Using a systematic data collection approach, two variables were manipulated. The distance between the microwave oven and the BLE piconet was varied from 0.5 meter to 5.0 meters at one-half meter increments. At each distance, the power level of the microwave oven was varied from the lowest power setting to the highest power setting. The two variables that were collected were the microwave interference generated by channel and the packet loss by channel. The results suggest more packet loss is due to the microwave oven's power level than by the distance, the interference caused by the microwave oven affects all BLE channels equally, and the packet loss by channel is a good predictor of microwave oven interference. The significance of this study lies in providing beneficial information to the medical and digital communication industries concerning the causes and solutions to disruptions in the Bluetooth-enabled body area network devices in a very common situation. The results of this study may lend support for improvements and widespread use of body area network medical systems, which may have the benefit of better monitoring, more data, and reduced fatalities due to misdiagnosed heart conditions.

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