Electromagnetic-interference-aware adaptive routing for wireless communication networks deployed in heathcare institutions

This paper proposes an adaptive and distributed routing protocol that attempts to reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI) introduced by radio activities in a wireless medical sensor network (WMSN). The proposed algorithm assigns to each node a potential value which is dynamically calculated in such a way that network traffic tends to be deflected from nodes that are radiating high EMI and/or locating far away from gateways. Simulations demonstrate that, compared to the shortest path routing, the proposed algorithm can significantly reduce the effects of EMI to the surrounding area where the wireless network is deployed. Besides, it is scalable to the network size because it only requires one-hop neighbor information.