The Internet of Bodies: A Gateway to Holistic Healthcare - 2023-01-22

Abstract

The Internet of Bodies (IoBs) is an imminent extension to the vast Internet of Things domain, where wearable, ingestible, injectable, and implantable smart objects form a network in, on, and around the human body. IoB devices can collect physiological and behavioral information from the human body and utilize such context-rich data in a number of applications that can substantially enhance the quality of life and improve the welfare of society. First, we discuss an overview of body area network technologies, highlighting the challenges and opportunities that are unique to body area networks. The talk then delves into details related to system-level considerations, network-level design goals, and constraints. Candidate communication technologies and standards are discussed while highlighting performance and safety considerations. The second part of the talk focuses on body channel access schemes, where the human body is used as an efficient and secure wireless channel. We explain how regular and cooperative body channel communications can facilitate energy-efficient networking required by IoB applications. The talk concludes with a review of the technical innovations and ethical obligations associated with new use cases such as body area networks.

Brief Biography

Ahmed M. Eltawil is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) where he joined the Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Science and Engineering Division (CEMSE) in 2019. Prior to that, he was a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) since 2005. At KAUST, he is the founder and director of the Communication and Computing Systems Laboratory (CCSL). Professor Eltawil’s research is in the area of efficient architectures for computing and communications systems in general, and wireless systems in particular, spanning the application domains of body area networks, low-power mobile systems, machine learning platforms, sensor networks, and critical infrastructure networks. He received a Doctorate degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2003 and the M.Sc. and B.Sc. degrees (with honors) from Cairo University, Giza, Egypt, in 1999 and 1997, respectively. Dr. Eltawil has been on the technical program committees and steering committees for numerous workshops, symposia, and conferences in the areas of low-power computing and wireless communication system design. He received several awards, including the NSF CAREER grant supporting his research in low-power computing and communication systems. He is a senior member of the IEEE and a senior member of the National Academy of Inventors, USA. In 2021, he was selected as “Innovator of the Year” by the Henry Samueli School of Engineering at the University of California, Irvine. Acknowledging his contributions in the area of wireless communication technologies, Professor Eltawil received two certificates of recognition from the United States Congress.