Co-channel interference in body area networks with indoor measurements at 2.4 GHz: Distance-to-interferer is a poor estimate of received interference power

Inter-network interference is likely to be a significant source of difficulty for wireless body area networks. Movement, proximity of networks, the large number of nodes per network and the lack of central coordination make cellular approaches to interference modeling ineffective. We examine the interference power of multiple Body Area Networks (BANs) when people move randomly within an indoor office environment. The power-loss trend over 3 m is overwhelmed by random variations in the signal power. Distance-to-interferer is a poor estimate of instantaneous received interference power, and an even less reliable estimate of instantaneous signal-to-interference ratio (SIR). We develop a lognormal statistical model for the signal-to-interference which incorporates the distance effect.