Co-channel Interference Mitigation for Wireless Body Area Networks Coexistence Using a Non-Cooperative Game

TL;DR

This paper introduces a game-theoretic transmit power control scheme for wireless body area networks to mitigate co-channel interference, improve packet delivery, and reduce power consumption through a novel utility function and equilibrium analysis.

Contribution

It proposes a novel utility-based power control scheme using game theory to enhance coexistence and interference mitigation among BANs, with proven equilibrium properties.

Findings

Improved packet delivery ratio with the proposed scheme.

Reduced transmit power compared to existing methods.

Effective interference management demonstrated through simulations.

Abstract

In this paper, we enable the coexistence of multiple wireless body area networks (BANs) using a finite repeated non-cooperative game, in which BANs are rational players but act selfishly. A game-theoretic based transmit power control scheme employing a novel utility function is proposed to maximize each network's packet delivery ratio (PDR) at low transmit power. The proposed utility function penalizes players with high transmission power, which reduces the interference caused to other coexisting BANs. Considering the purpose of inter-BAN interference mitigation, PDR is expressed as a compressed exponential function of inverse signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR), so it is essentially a function of transmit powers of all coexisting BANs. It is proven that a unique Nash Equilibrium (NE) exists and hence there is a subgame-perfect equilibrium, considering best-response at each stage independent of history. Realistic and extensive on- and inter-body channel models are employed. Results confirm that the effectiveness of the proposed scheme in better interference management, greater reliability and reduced transmit power, comparing with other schemes commonly applied in BAN.