Data Packet Transmission Through Fat Tissue for Wireless IntraBody Networks

This paper explores high data rate microwave communication through fat tissue in order to address the wide bandwidth requirements of intrabody area networks. We have designed and carried out experiments on an IEEE 802.15.4-based WBAN prototype by measuring the performance of the fat tissue channel in terms of data packet reception with respect to tissue length and power transmission. This paper proposes and demonstrates a high data rate communication channel through fat tissue using phantom and ex-vivo environments. Here, we achieve a data packet reception of approximately 96% in both environments. The results also show that the received signal strength drops by ∼1 dBm per 10 mm in phantom and ∼2 dBm per 10 mm in ex-vivo. The phantom and ex-vivo experimentations validated our approach for high data rate communication through fat tissue for intrabody network applications. The proposed method opens up new opportunities for further research in fat channel communication. This study will contribute to the successful development of high bandwidth wireless intrabody networks that support high data rate implanted, ingested, injected, or worn devices.