HBC-UWB Channel Modeling for In-body to On-body Communication Link

Abstract

Human Body Communication (HBC) uses the human body as a transmission medium, providing a new means for data transfer for body area networks (BANs). On the other hand, to improve low-profile high data rates communication performance for in-body to on-body (IB2OB) links, Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology is a preferable candidate. Hence, in this work, channel characteristics based on HBC-UWB signals (10-50 MHz) for typical in-body to on-body links, such as heart, brain, arm, small intestine to sensor nodes attached on the body surface, are investigated to derive a comprehensive a path-loss model using an anatomical human model. The results show that a linear regulation term related to surface wave propagation should be added to construct a more accurate IB2OB path-loss model. The shadow fading is normally distributed around the derived mean path-loss. Moreover, the key parameters for channel characterization are summarized to provide useful insight for developing HBC-UWB implant communication system.