Antennas and propagation for on-body communication systems

On-body communication channels are of increasing interest for a number of applications, such as medical-sensor networks, emergency-service workers, and personal communications. This paper describes investigations into channel characterization and antenna performance at 2.45 GHz. It is shown that significant channel fading occurs during normal activity, due primarily to the dynamic nature of the human body, but also due to multipath around the body and from scattering by the environment. This fading can be mitigated by the use of antenna diversity, and gains of up to 10 dB are obtained. Separation of the antenna's performance from the channel characteristics is difficult, but results show that for many channels, an antenna polarized normal to the body's surface gives the best path gain. Simulation and modeling present many challenges, particularly in terms of the problem's scale, and the need for accurate modeling of the body and its movement.

[1]  P.S. Hall,et al.  Performance of antennas in the on-body environment , 2005, 2005 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium.

[2]  Yang Hao,et al.  Statistical Analysis and Performance Evaluation for On-Body Radio Propagation With Microstrip Patch Antennas , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation.

[3]  M. Iskander,et al.  Polarization and human body effects on the microwave absorption in a human head exposed to radiation from handheld devices , 2000 .

[4]  William Scanlon,et al.  Numerical analysis of bodyworn UHF antenna systems , 2001 .

[5]  C. Zheng,et al.  ; 0 ; , 1951 .

[6]  Geoffrey S Hilton,et al.  Adaptive feedback frequency tuning for microstrip patch antennas , 1995 .

[7]  P.S. Hall,et al.  Comparison between two different antennas for UWB on-body propagation measurements , 2005, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters.

[8]  Julien Ryckaert,et al.  Channel model for wireless communication around human body , 2004 .

[9]  Peter Hall,et al.  Measurements of on-body propagation characteristics , 2002, IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium (IEEE Cat. No.02CH37313).

[10]  Yang Hao,et al.  Antennas and propagation for on-body communication systems , 2005, 11th International Symposium on Antenna Technology and Applied Electromagnetics [ANTEM 2005].

[11]  Chris Baber,et al.  Forms of wearable computer , 2003 .

[12]  O. Litschke,et al.  An improved method for measuring the radiation efficiency of mobile devices , 2003, IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium. Digest. Held in conjunction with: USNC/CNC/URSI North American Radio Sci. Meeting (Cat. No.03CH37450).

[13]  Ziri-Castro,et al.  Indoor radio channel characterization and modeling for a 5.2-GHz bodyworn receiver , 2004, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters.

[14]  Peter Hall,et al.  Antennas and propagation for body centric communications , 2006 .

[15]  Woodrow Barfield,et al.  Fundamentals of Wearable Computers and Augumented Reality , 2000 .

[16]  P. Hall,et al.  On-body path gain variations with changing body posture and antenna position , 2005, 2005 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium.

[17]  M. Kivikoski,et al.  Wearable antennas in the vicinity of human body , 2004, IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society Symposium, 2004..

[18]  G. Troster,et al.  UWB for noninvasive wireless body area networks: channel measurements and results , 2003, IEEE Conference on Ultra Wideband Systems and Technologies, 2003.

[19]  R. H. Johnston,et al.  An improved small antenna radiation-efficiency measurement method , 1998 .

[20]  S. Watanabe,et al.  Computation with a parallel FDTD system of human-body effect on electromagnetic absorption for portable telephones , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques.

[21]  Peter Hall,et al.  Microstrip patch antenna with integrated adaptive tuning , 1997 .

[22]  P ? ? ? ? ? ? ? % ? ? ? ? , 1991 .

[23]  V. Tarokh,et al.  A statistical path loss model for in-home UWB channels , 2002, 2002 IEEE Conference on Ultra Wideband Systems and Technologies (IEEE Cat. No.02EX580).

[24]  Wen-Tzu Chen,et al.  Computer simulation of the human-body effects on a circular-loop-wire antenna for radio-pager communications at 152, 280, and 400 MHz , 1997 .

[25]  Jens Zander,et al.  A body-shadowing model for indoor radio communication environments , 1998 .

[26]  Paolo Bernardi,et al.  Specific absorption rate and temperature elevation in a subject exposed in the far-field of radio-frequency sources operating in the 10-900-MHz range , 2003, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[27]  Paolo Nepa,et al.  Diversity Gain Measurements for PIFAs on a Notebook Computer , 2006 .

[28]  P. Hall,et al.  Antennas for on-body communication systems , 2005, IWAT 2005. IEEE International Workshop on Antenna Technology: Small Antennas and Novel Metamaterials, 2005..

[29]  R.G. Vaughan,et al.  Antenna diversity in mobile communications , 1987, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology.