Complementary in-vivo measurements for human body communication

Abstract

The actual way of living is characterized by a large use of connected terminals and devices. This connectivity needs permanent intercommunication between terminals and requires miniaturization, power management, and intelligence. In this context, Human Body Communication (HBC) is an emerging and promising communication technique of Body Area Network (BAN) which enshrines these requirements. HBC is a non-radio frequency technique which uses the human body as a communication channel. This communication technique is in full development. However, it is controversial without consensus in terms of the propagation mechanism and characteristics even the large number of research and academic reports. This work joins the efforts to characterize the channel and for a better understanding of the communication through the human body for both galvanic and capacitive coupling. The originality in this paper is to bring up the HBC coupling, from a new point of view, by proposing in vivo measurements. In addition to the usual parameters (channel length for example), we aim to discuss the effect of the electrical contact impedance as a function of the applied force and contact gel, and the distance between the electrodes and the body.