Experimental Investigation of Subject-Specific On-Body Radio Propagation Channels for Body-Centric Wireless Communications

Electronics

Mohammad Monirujjaman Khan¹  Qammer Hussain Abbasi¹  Akram Alomainy¹ 

[1] School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road London, London E1 4NS, UK; E-Mails:

关键词: ultra-wideband (UWB);    narrowband;    on-body radio channels;    body-centric wireless communications;    subject-specific;    path loss;   

DOI  :  10.3390/electronics3010026

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

In this paper, subject-specific narrowband (2.45 GHz) and ultra-wideband (3–10.6 GHz) on-body radio propagation studies in wireless body area networks (WBANs) were performed by characterizing the path loss for eight different human subjects of different shapes and sizes. The body shapes and sizes of the test subjects used in this study are characterised as thin, medium build, fatty, shorter, average height and taller. Experimental investigation was made in an indoor environment using a pair of printed monopoles (for the narrowband case) and a pair of tapered slot antennas (for the ultra-wideband (UWB) case). Results demonstrated that, due to the different sizes, heights and shapes of the test subjects, the path loss exponent value varies up to maximum of 0.85 for the narrowband on-body case, whereas a maximum variation of the path loss exponent value of 1.15 is noticed for the UWB case. In addition, the subject-specific behaviour of the on-body radio propagation channels was compared between narrowband and UWB systems, and it was deduced that the on-body radio channels are subject-specific for both narrowband and UWB system cases, when the same antennas (same characteristics) are used. The effect of the human body shape and size variations on the eight different on-body radio channels is also studied for both the narrowband and UWB cases.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.