Wireless Body Area Networks in Healthcare: Evolution, Challenges, and Pathways to Innovation

Abstract

Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) are emerging as a transformative technology in healthcare, enabling continuous real-time monitoring, and management of patient health. This work explores the development of WBANs, emphasizing advances in communication standards such as Bluetooth, ZigBee, and Ultra-Wideband, alongside key challenges in their implementation. These challenges are categorized into five areas: i) security and privacy, ii) hardware, iii) communication and network protocols, iv) physiological aspects and v) interoperability. Additionally, the integration of WBANs into smart hospital environments as human-centric Internet-of-Things (IoT) systems is discussed, highlighting their potential to enhance patient care while addressing critical cybersecurity risks.