Body-Centric Wireless Communication in a Network of Smart Bandages (3PL011016)

Annually there are over 72 million instances of acute wounds from accidents or surgical procedures, and chronic wounds affect approximately 6.5 million patients in the US. These wounds are covered by wound dressings for an improved healing process. This passive function of the current generation of bandages can be augmented by recent advances in wearable electronics and wireless communication. Smart bandages that can monitor the healing process and provide realtime therapy while being applied to a wound are currently being developed. In order to offer this additional functionality, these bandages need to be able to communicate with the environment. This wireless communication will be studied in this proposal. Smart bandages can be placed anywhere on the body and will not have much energy available. Therefore, an efficiently designed network of nodes on the body, a so called Body Area Network (BAN), is required as an intermediary in the communication between the bandages and the wireless network. In this project, the on-body placement of the BAN and the antennas that are used for the wireless communication in the BAN will be studied, in order to optimize the communication between the bandages and the environment. Eventually, this project will enable the usage of smart bandages and will contribute towards a better therapy and comfort for a large and growing number of patients.