The effects of GND electrodes in capacitive-coupling body channel communication

Abstract

Capacitive coupling body channel communication (CC-BCC) has the potential or improving energy efficiency in wireless body area network (WBAN). In CC-BCC, the body surface is used as the forward signal path, whereas the backward path is formed by the capacitive coupling between two ground (GND) electrodes (GEs) of transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX). The loss in forward path is much lower in CC-BCC than in wireless communication because of better conductivity of human body. However, the loss in backward path is comparable to wireless communication since the signal is coupled between two GEs in air. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis on the effect of GEs in CC-BCC using finite-element method. The analysis is verified by actual measurements. In addition, a set of guidelines is provided for the design of GEs for CC-BCC systems.