Characterization of dynamic wireless body area network channels during walking

Marshed Mohamed,Günter Vermeeren,Emmeric Tanghe,Michael Cheffena,Wout Joseph

doi:10.1186/s13638-019-1415-3

Abstract

In this work, finite-difference time-domain was used for the investigation of dynamic wireless body area network channel characteristics during walking, thus accounting for dynamic aspects and body postures. This involves the study of on-body, off-body, and body-to-body communication in an empty environment, at the center frequency of 2.45 GHz. The channels were investigated in terms of fade variation and their corresponding amplitude distributions. For on-body channels, the fade variation was found to be periodic, with larger fade variations for the channels involving the nodes at the hand and thigh. For off-body and body-to-body channels, channels with the absence of line of sight experienced constructive and destructive interference as the distance between the end nodes changes, resulting in larger fade variations. For the amplitude distribution of the channels, a multivariate normal distribution was considered. The distribution has the capability of modeling channels jointly which makes it easier for network analysis and was considered because of the significant correlation between the channels. The resulting estimated multivariate distributions fit well with the simulated data, for on-body, off-body, and body-to-body channels.

Highlights

In recent years, there has been substantial research on wireless body area networks (WBANs) due to their potential applications in areas involving monitoring and transmission of human physiological data, such as health monitoring and sports activities
Since the aforementioned models are applicable for a particular measurement setup, other researchers have tried to use physical models instead [19, 20]. These models are based on calculation of time-varying shadowing effects of human body movement and the addition of multipath component using statistical distribution depending on the location
The results show that 68% of the channels have p < 0.05, indicating a significant correlation between the channels; multivariate normal distribution could be used in the estimation of the amplitude distribution of the channels

Summary

Introduction

There has been substantial research on wireless body area networks (WBANs) due to their potential applications in areas involving monitoring and transmission of human physiological data, such as health monitoring and sports activities. Since the aforementioned models are applicable for a particular measurement setup, other researchers have tried to use physical models instead [19, 20] These models are based on calculation of time-varying shadowing effects of human body movement and the addition of multipath component using statistical distribution depending on the location. Another approach is the use of numerical simulations such as finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) [21,22,23,24]. The estimated distribution was compared with the simulated data using two-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (KS test) at 0.05 significant level to quantify the goodness of the fit [37]

Results and discussions

On-body channels

Conclusion

29. Modeling Modules Framework