The Center for Wireless Information Network Studies (CWINS) at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) Worcester, MA, has received a three-year, $1.2 million award from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to conduct a groundbreaking study of the propagation of radio waves around and through the human body. Led by Kaveh Pahlavan, professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of CWINS, the research is expected to help speed the development and creation of standards for body area networks (BANs), a new generation of wireless networks that support a variety of medical applications, from monitoring the functioning of implanted devices to helping perform virtual endoscopic exams.

The award is one of only 27 funded (from 1,300 proposals) through NIST’s AARA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) Measurement, Science & Engineering Grants program.

BANs are made up of compact medical sensors worn by or implanted in individuals, depending on the application. Data from the sensors are transmitted to base stations and then to hospitals or clinics, where they may be monitored and analyzed. Data from these sensors also can be used to pinpoint the location of medical devices, for example implants or tiny sensors ingested to study the digestive system.

BANs may make it possible for doctors and other healthcare professionals to remotely monitor patients around the clock. Data from a BAN installed in or on a person with a history of cardiac health issues might alert doctors to heart rhythm irregularities, enabling emergency personnel to respond before a potentially fatal heart actually occurs. Similarly, BANs make it possible for doctors to remotely monitor diabetic patients, whose insulin levels could change abruptly, or people with seizure-causing disorders. And since BANs can be interactive, healthcare professionals could use them to deliver treatment from afar; for example, to patients with pacemakers or installed insulin pumps.

BAN technology is expected to grow rapidly. The FCC recently allocated specific spectrum bands for wireless medical communications, and committees have been formed to address standardization of these emerging technologies. Standardization is also one of the areas that the WPI research aims to address.

The goal of Pahlavan’s team is to apply what it has learned by studying larger-scale networks (from wireless local networks such as Wi-Fi to personal networks like Bluetooth), to developing a comprehensive program for measuring the characteristics of radio frequency propagation in and around the body.

“This research will help propel the growth of this powerful technology in the United States and help pave the way for standardization for body-area networks,” says Pahlavan.  “That growth, in turn, has both considerable economic implications and significant potential to improve healthcare.”