A New Approach and Analysis of Modeling the Human Body in RFID-Enabled Body-Centric Wireless Systems

Body-centric wireless systems demand wearable sensor and tag antennas that have robust impedance matching and provide enough gain for a reliable wireless communication link. In this paper, we discuss a novel and practical technique for the modeling of the human body in UHF RFID body-centric wireless systems. What makes this technique different is that we base the human model on measured far-field response from a reference tag attached to the human body. Hereby, the human body model accounts for the encountered human body effects on the tag performance. The on-body measurements are fast, which allows establishing a catalog of human body models for different tag locations and human subjects. Such catalog would provide a ready simulation model for a wide range of wireless body-centric applications in order to initiate a functional design. Our results demonstrate that the suggested modeling technique can be used in the design and optimization of wearable antennas for different real-case body-centric scenarios.

[1]  Yahya Rahmat-Samii,et al.  Conformal RFID antenna design suitable for human monitoring and metallic platforms , 2010, Proceedings of the Fourth European Conference on Antennas and Propagation.

[2]  G. Marrocco.  RFID Antennas for the UHF Remote Monitoring of Human Subjects , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation.

[3]  G. Marrocco,et al.  Reading range of wearable textile RFID tags in real configurations , 2011, Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP).

[4]  Markku Kivikoski,et al.  One-Layer GPS Antennas Perform Well near a Human Body , 2007 .

[5]  Gaetano Marrocco,et al.  The RFID Technology for Neurosciences: Feasibility of Limbs' Monitoring in Sleep Diseases , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine.

[6]  Leena Ukkonen,et al.  Design approaches for bodyworn RFID tags , 2010, 2010 3rd International Symposium on Applied Sciences in Biomedical and Communication Technologies (ISABEL 2010).

[7]  Yahya Rahmat-Samii,et al.  Implanted Antennas in Medical Wireless Communications (Synthesis Lectures on Antennas and Propagation) , 2006 .

[8]  R. Pethig,et al.  Dielectric properties of body tissues. , 1987, Clinical physics and physiological measurement : an official journal of the Hospital Physicists' Association, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Medizinische Physik and the European Federation of Organisations for Medical Physics.

[9]  Yahya Rahmat-Samii,et al.  Characterization of Electro-textiles Using Wireless Re∞ectometry for Optimization of Wearable UHF RFID Tags , 2013 .

[10]  Yuehui Ouyang,et al.  High Frequency Properties of Electro-Textiles for Wearable Antenna Applications , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation.

[11]  Sangwook Nam,et al.  Embroidered Wearable Multiresonant Folded Dipole Antenna for FM Reception , 2010, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters.

[12]  Y Bayram,et al.  E-Textile Conductors and Polymer Composites for Conformal Lightweight Antennas , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation.

[13]  Gaetano Marrocco,et al.  Modeling, Design and Experimentation of Wearable RFID Sensor Tag , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation.

[14]  L. Ukkonen,et al.  Durability of embroidered antennas in wireless body-centric healthcare applications , 2013, 2013 7th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP).

[15]  Yahya Rahmat-Samii,et al.  Ingestible RFID bio-capsule tag design for medical monitoring , 2010, 2010 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium.

[16]  L. Ukkonen,et al.  Fabrication of embroidered UHF RFID tags , 2012, Proceedings of the 2012 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation.

[17]  L. Vallozzi,et al.  A Textile Antenna for Off-Body Communication Integrated Into Protective Clothing for Firefighters , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation.

[18]  K. V. S. Rao,et al.  Impedance matching concepts in RFID transponder design , 2005, Fourth IEEE Workshop on Automatic Identification Advanced Technologies (AutoID'05).

[19]  J. C. Batchelor,et al.  Temporary On-Skin Passive UHF RFID Transfer Tag , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation.

[20]  Li Yang,et al.  Wearable RFID-enabled sensor nodes for biomedical applications , 2008, 2008 58th Electronic Components and Technology Conference.

[21]  Yahya Rahmat-Samii,et al.  Characterization of embroidered dipole-type RFID tag antennas , 2012, 2012 IEEE International Conference on RFID-Technologies and Applications (RFID-TA).

[22]  Y. Rahmat-Samii,et al.  Implanted antennas inside a human body: simulations, designs, and characterizations , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques.