Energy and Spectrum Efficient Parameter Estimation in Wireless Body Sensor Networks

In this letter we consider the problem of linear distributed estimation (DES) of a random parameter in a wireless body sensor network (BSN). We propose a novel architecture, and an associated optimization model, for DES in BSNs that is based on the deployment of a body-coupled communication (BCC) network that allows the nodes to communicate through the human body. BCC allows optimized data collection and on-body sensor fusion. The implications of our DES architecture for BSNs are significant savings in energy consumption and spectrum utilization.