IEEE Standard for 
Local and metropolitan area networks ߌ 
 
Part 15.6: Wireless Body Area Networks 
 
IEEE Computer Society 
 
Sponsored by the  
LAN/MAN Standards Committee 
IEEE 
3 Park Avenue  
New York, NY 10016-5997 
USA 
 
29 February 2012 
IEEE Std 802.15.6™-2012
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IEEE Std 802.15.6™-2012 
IEEE Standard for  
Local and metropolitan area networks― 
Part 15.6: Wireless Body Area Networks 
Sponsor 
LAN/MAN Standards Committee 
of the 
IEEE Computer Society 
Approved 6 February 2012 
IEEE-SA Standards Board 
 
 
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Abstract: Short-range, wireless communications in the vicinity of, or inside, a human body (but 
not limited to humans) are specified in this standard. It uses existing industrial scientific medical 
(ISM)  bands  as  well  as  frequency  bands  approved  by  national  medical  and/or  regulatory 
authorities.  Support  for  quality  of  service  (QoS),  extremely  low  power,  and  data  rates  up  to  
10 Mbps is required while simultaneously complying with strict non-interference guidelines where 
needed. This standard considers effects on portable antennas due to the presence of a person 
(varying with male, female, skinny, heavy, etc.), radiation pattern shaping to minimize the specific 
absorption  rate  (SAR)  into  the  body,  and  changes  in  characteristics  as  a  result  of  the  user 
motions.  
Keywords: BAN, body area network, IEEE 802.15.6 
 
• 
                                                 
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.  
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Copyright © 2012 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.  
All rights reserved. Published 29 February 2012. Printed in the United States of America. 
 
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ISBN 978-0-7381-7206-4 
ISBN 978-0-7381-7227-9 
STD97213 
STDPD97213 
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Participants 
At the time this standard was submitted to the IEEE-SA Standards Board for approval, the 802.15 Working 
Group had the following membership: 
Robert F. Heile, Chair 
Rick Alfvin, Vice Chair 
Patrick W. Kinney, Vice Chair, Secretary 
James P. K. Gilb, Technical Editor 
Clint Chaplin, Treasurer 
 
Art Astrin, Task Group 6 Chair 
Huan-Bang Li, Task Group 6 Co-Vice Chair 
Ranjeet Patro, Task Group 6 Co-Vice Chair 
Daniel Lewis, Task Group 6 Editor 
Jin-Meng Ho, Task Group 6 MAC and Security Editor 
Anuj Batra, Task Group 6 Narrowband PHY Editor 
Marco Hernandez, Task Group 6 UWB PHY Editor 
Seung-Hoon (Shannon) Park, Task Group 6 HBC PHY Editor 
Igor Dotlic, Task Group 6 Secretary 
Michael Dow 
Dietmar Eggert 
David Evans 
Charles S. Farlow 
John Farserotu 
Kory Fifield 
Stanislav Filin 
Will Filippo 
Michael Fischer 
George Flammer 
Ryosuke Fujiwara 
Noriyasu Fukatsu 
Kiyoshi Fukui 
John Geiger 
Gregory Gillooly 
Paul Gorday 
Elad Gottlib 
Evan Green 
Robert Hall 
Shinsuke Hara 
Hiroshi Harada 
Shigekazu Harada 
Timothy Harrington 
Rodney Hemminger 
Ryoichi Higashi 
Garth Hillman 
Wei Hong 
Srinath Hosur 
David Howard 
Heqing Huang 
Sterling Hughes 
Jung-Hwan Hwang 
Ichirou Ida 
Tetsushi Ikegami 
Akio Iso 
Il Jang 
Adrian Jennings 
Wuncheol Jeong 
Jorjeta Jetcheva 
Steven Jillings 
Seong-Soon Joo 
Tae-Gyu Kang 
Shuzo Kato 
Jeritt Kent 
Prithpal Khakuria 
Dae Kim 
Dong-Sun Kim 
Jinkyeong Kim 
Youngsoo Kim 
Yunjoo Kim 
Jeffrey King 
Ryuji Kohno 
Fumihide Kojima 
Bruce Kraemer 
Raymond Krasinski 
Thomas Kuerner 
Masahiro Kuroda 
John Lampe 
Zhou Lan 
Khanh Tuan Le 
Cheolhyo Lee 
Hoosung Lee 
Hyungsoo Lee 
Myung Lee 
Yuro Lee 
Liang Li 
Sang-Kyu Lim 
Jeremy Link 
Lu Liru 
Michael Lynch 
Robert Mason 
Jeff McCullough 
Michael McInnis 
Michael McLaughlin 
 
Emad Afifi 
Gahng-Seop Ahn 
Roberto Aiello 
Takamasa Asano 
Taehan Bae 
Michael Bahr 
John Barr 
Tuncer Baykas 
Philip Beecher 
Ghulam Bhatti 
Gary Birk 
Mathew Boytim 
Peter Bradley 
Nancy Bravin 
David Britz 
Monique Brown 
Sverre Brubk 
Brian Buchanan 
John Buffington 
Kiran Bynam 
Brent Cain 
Edgar Callaway 
Chris Calvert 
Radhakrishna Canchi 
Ruben Cardozo 
Russell Chandler 
Kuor-Hsin Chang 
Soo-Young Chang 
Hind Chebbo 
In-Kyeong Choi 
Sangsung Choi 
David Cypher 
Matthew Dahl 
David Davenport 
Mark Dawkins 
Hendricus De Ruijter 
Gang Ding 
Copyright © 2012 IEEE. All rights reserved. 
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