The IEEE announced Wednesday that it has approved the formation of the IEEE 802.15.6 working group, which will work toward developing a "body area network".
Officially, the 802.15.6 group's formation has been approved by the New Standards Committee (NESCOM)and the supervisory body, the IEEESA Standards Board.
The working group's mission is to develop shiort-range wireless technology both in and around the body. While it's possible that such technologies would include things like wireless command-and-control protocols for wireless-enabled pacemakers, such technologies would also open up the possibility that such devices would need security as well. Other short-range networks have been discussed in the context of the military, such as networked map data available both in a PDA format as well as viewable via a headset.
The group has not accepted any proposals as yet, and there is no formal timeline for development of a standard or standards.
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