There is demand for Body Area Wireless Sensor Networks (BAWSNs) in which the sensor nodes are small and light, preventing the use of bulky batteries. In order to maximise the length of time that the sensor nodes can operate without being recharged, their energy consumption needs to be minimised. Since the energy consumed when transmitting has a significant contribution to the energy consumption of typical wireless sensor nodes, it is desirable to consider sophisticated error correction schemes, which allow reliable communications to be maintained when the transmission energy per data bit is reduced significantly. However, these error correction schemes are associated with some processing complexity, which consumes energy and erodes the transmission energy savings that are afforded. This project aims to analyse the processing energy consumption associated with sophisticated error correction schemes, allowing the optimal trade-off between processing energy and transmission energy to be found. In this way, the net energy consumption of wireless sensor nodes can be minimised.