Optimal packet size for energy efficient WBAN under m-periodic scheduled access mode

In this paper, we evaluate the optimal packet size for energy efficient communication in IEEE 802.15.6 based wireless body area networks (WBANs) under multi-periodic scheduled access mode. We evaluate the impact of (i) acknowledgement policy, (ii) periodicity of allocation and (iii) number of uploads per super frame on optimal packet size in an error-prone channel. We determine the optimal packet size for various communication scenarios in WBAN and for two distinct acknowledgement policies: immediate and block acknowledgement. Results show that the optimal packet size depends on acknowledgement policy employed and is insensitive to number of uploads per super frame and the periodicity of allocation.