Advanced Biophysical Model to Capture Channel Variability for EQS Capacitive HBC.

Abstract

Human Body Communication (HBC) has come up as a promising alternative to traditional radio frequency (RF) Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) technologies. This is essentially due to HBC providing a broadband communication channel with enhanced signal security in the physical layer due to lower radiation from the human body as compared to its RF counterparts. An in-depth understanding of the mechanism for the channel loss variability and associated biophysical model needs to be developed before electro-quasistatic (EQS) HBC can be used more frequently in WBAN consumer and medical applications. Recent developments have shown biophysical models that capture the channel response for fixed transmitter and receiver positions on the human body which do not capture the variability in the HBC channel for varying positions of the devices with respect to the body. In this study, we provide a detailed analysis of the change in path loss in a capacitive-HBC channel in the EQS domain. Causes of channel loss variability namely: inter-device coupling and effects of fringe fields due to body's shadowing effects are investigated. FEM based simulation results are used to analyze the channel response of human body for different positions and sizes of the device which are further verified using measurement results to validate the developed biophysical model. Using the biophysical model, we develop a closed form equation for the path loss in a capacitive HBC channel which is then analyzed as a function of the geometric properties of the device and the position with respect to the human body which will help pave the path towards future EQS-HBC WBAN design.