A hybrid wireless electroencephalography network based on the IEEE 802.11 and IEEE 802.15.4 standards

Abstract In the modern world, the evolution of science and technology has paved a way for emergence of many engineering fields. Therefore wireless communication has become an integral part of the newly designed products, covering almost every aspect of life. Medical diagnosis is no exception. In diagnosis of neural disease, electroencephalography (EEG) is an essential element. Conventional EEG detectors use a wire interface, limiting patient mobility. This chapter aims to conduct a comprehensive analysis of conventional techniques used and possible inclusion of state of the art wireless technology to replace them. Moreover, a comparative analysis of two wireless standards, IEEE 802.11 and IEEE 802.15.4, to be used as wireless EEG devices will be presented. Integration of a wireless node into an EEG device will facilitate patient mobility, centralized resource sharing, and remote monitoring of patients’ neural behavior. In case of emergency situations, such as hurricanes, floods, or other natural disasters, remotely monitored EEG wireless devices can be used for patient treatment. In the proposed network, we analyzed jitter, medium access control (MAC) delay, and throughput for IEEE 802.11 and IEEE 802.15.4 networks individually. Moreover, three different mobility patterns, namely, circle, linear, and constant speed, will be used to evaluate the effect on the network jitter, MAC delay, and throughput for each scenario. The chapter may provide several research directions to push the boundaries of wireless standards to be used in more safety critical applications and test the standards for several different mobility patterns in order to select the best suited wireless node for each mobility pattern.