Analysis of Bluetooth-based Wireless Sensor Networks Performance in Hospital Environments

In this work, the performance of Bluetooth-based Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) deployed within hospital environments is analyzed. Due to the complexity that this kind of scenarios exhibit in terms of radio propagation and coexistence with other wireless communication systems and radiant elements such as magnetic resonances and other electric appliances, the deployment of WSNs becomes a complex task which requires an in-depth radio planning analysis. For that purpose, measurements within real scenarios as well as simulation results obtained by the aim of an in-house developed 3D Ray Launching method are presented. The analyzed scenarios are located at the Hospital Complex of Navarre (HCN), in the city of Pamplona. As hospitals have a wide variety of scenarios, the analysis has been carried out in different zones such as the Emergency room of the HCN, where the interferences are expected to have a low impact since it is a kind of waiting room, and operating rooms area, where the patient security is a major issue and it can be a harsh environment in terms of interference and coexistence with other wireless equipment. The obtained simulation results have been validated with the measurements, and they show how Bluetooth-based WSNs behave within hospital environments in terms of coverage, Signal to Noise Ratio and capacity. Therefore, the presented analysis can aid in obtaining the optimal network configuration and performance of the Bluetooth-based WSNs, making them attractive for the developing of applications for hospital environments.