LAN, PAN and BAN sound like cute names for panda bears from a kid’s cartoon program, but these are actually acronyms for wireless technologies.
Of the three, LAN is probably the most familiar to the general public. It stands for local area network. This is generally a computer network that interconnects computers within a limited area such as a residence, laboratory, office building, school or university campus.
Similar to a LAN, a WAN (wide area network) not only covers a larger geographic distance but also involves leased telecommunications circuits.
Smaller in scope than a WAN or LAN, the personal area network (PAN) is a computer network for interconnecting devices centered on an individual person’s workspace. A PAN provides data transmission among devices such as computers, smartphones, tablets and personal digital assistants.
PANs can be used for communication among the personal devices themselves, or for connecting to a higher level network and the internet where one master device takes up the role as gateway. The PAN network can be either wireless or constructed with cables. The USBs and FireWire are often required for linking together a wired PAN. However, on the other hand, a PAN typically use Bluetooth or at times infrared connections. If considered conceptually, a PAN may consist of small, wearable or embedded devices that communicate upon nearby contact with other wireless devices.
The benefits of a PAN are considerable. PANs are for individual use, so the advantages may be more effectively comprehended than when discussing wide territory systems. Two big benefits: Use of exciting new technology is made easy with a wireless PAN connection, serving multiple benefits to organizations; also, PAN offers cost savings and increased efficiency to its users.
The rapid growth in physiological sensors, low-power integrated circuits, and wireless communication has enabled a new generation of wireless sensor networks, now used for purposes such as monitoring traffic, crops, infrastructure and health. This is a Body Area Network (BAN), a short-range wireless network comprised of devices positioned in, on and around the body. It provides data communication over short distances, limited to ranges of just a few meters.
This new, inherently personal type of network uses wearable and implanted electronic circuits. It implements highly useful functions and capabilities in convenient, unobtrusive configurations that operate at very low power and deliver superlative security.
The body area network (BAN) is also referred to as a wireless body area network (WBAN) or a body sensor network (BSN) or a medical body area network (MBAN). These devices may also be surface-mounted on the body in a fixed position wearable technology or may be accompanied devices which humans can carry in different positions, in clothes pockets, by hand or in various bags.
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