Collaboration
A group of nine French industrial and academic partners have joined forces to develop the underlying technologies and protocols for wireless networks operating on human bodies.
The major objectives of BANET (Body Area Networks and Technologies) is to define a reliable communication protocol, optimise BAN technologies, and enhancing the energy efficiency of network components. The project is headed by CEA-Leti, a research institute specialising in micro and nano technologies, and funded by the national research agency, Agence Nationale de la Recherche over a 30-month period.
Body area networks have a range of potential applications in consumer electronics, medical and sport fields. In sports, information gathered by a body sensor networks can be used to improve sports equipment, while in the medical field the project will focus on wireless communication systems for new generation implants such as cardiac pacemakers.
Another aspect of the BANET project is to reduce power consumption to improve user acceptance and ease, enhance battery lifetime and reduce the size of equipment that must be attached to users’ bodies.
Project partners include Decathlon (Oxylane Group), a retailer and industrial company R&D lab from the sports sector; Ela Medical, a company developing implantable defibrillators, pacemakers and systems to treat heart failure; ENSTA ParisTech, the public engineering institute, whose Laboratory of Electronics and Computer Engineering investigates radio systems, antennas and channels; and France Télécom-Orange.
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