Comprehensive analysis of the authentication methods in wireless body area networks

WBANs are of the promising technologies, applied in the e-healthcare systems, for extracting and transferring critical medical data from patient body. In WBANs, the privacy and integrity of the patient's private medical data are very important, as a result, the WBANs communications and even communication with other E-Healthcare components should be authenticated and secured. This paper provides a complete survey and analysis of the various authentication schemes proposed in the literature to improve the WBANs security. Besides, it classifies the proposed authentication schemes based on the applied techniques for authentication and illustrates each scheme in detail. Furthermore, it highlights the advantages and limitations of the authentication schemes and presents a comprehensive comparison of their capabilities and features. Finally, the paper concludes with open issues and future research directions. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.