Characteristic and Modeling of Human Body Motions for Body Area Network Applications

Many current and future medical devices are wearable and human body is used as a carrier for wireless communication, which implies human body to be a crucial part of the transmission medium in body area networks (BANs). In order to understand the propagation characteristics around human body, the statistical model is derived for communication links in the medical implant communication service band, industrial scientific medical band and ultra-wideband based on the narrowband measurement. The channel model of diffracting components around human body were different from one scenario to another. Moreover, second order statistics, including level crossing rate and fade duration, are presented for each scenario to evaluate the link quality and outage performance for on-body to on-body scenario. Using a network analyzer, Doppler spread spectrum in frequency domain and coherence time in time domain from temporal variations of human body movements are also analyzed from diverse perspectives. Additionally, the shape of Doppler spread spectrum is fitted to describe the relationship of power and frequency. The proposed on-body to on-body channel model for human body motions can be used to better design wireless network protocols for BANs.     

Path gain models for on-body communication systems at 2.4 and 5.8 GHz

In this paper, a couple of path gain models for on-body communication systems are analyzed and compared. The study is focused on the characterization of the propagation channel between two wearable devices placed on a human body, and operating at 2.4 and 5.8 GHz. Wearable wireless low-cost commercial modules and low-profile annular ring slot antennas were used, and measurements were performed for different radio links on a human body. Measurement results have been compared with CST Microwave Studio simulations by resorting to simplified body models like flat, cylindrical, spherical, and ellipsoidal canonical geometries. Characteristic parameters appearing in the propagation models have been calculated for the analyzed on-body channels and summarized in a concluding table.     

Investigation and Modeling of the UWB On-Body Propagation Channel

Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) are becoming an increasingly important part of the wireless communication system. In such a communication system various electronic devices carried by a person on his body can be connected. In this paper, we investigate the UWB body area propagation channel. The channel characterization is based on UWB on-body channel measurements. This paper describes the measurement campaign and the basic characteristics of the body area propagation channel extracted from measurement data.     

Adaptive time and frequency resource assignment with COFDM for LMDSsystems

In this letter, a wireless local multipoint distribution system (LMDS) at millimeter waves for the last-mile broad-band distribution to users of interactive services is investigated. The system analyzed employs a coded orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing transmission scheme with frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) and/or time-division multiplexing techniques and adaptive carrier allocation to counteract the effects of the wireless communication channel. The idea of deploying the reverse channel (exploited by the user for interactivity purposes) to provide channel information to the broadcasting transmitter is introduced. System performance is evaluated for an urban microcellular radio system in an actual propagation environment and the choices of the optimum multiplexing technique and carrier allocation algorithm are discussed in the case of ideal feedback. It is found that a pure FDM technique combined with an adaptive carrier allocation algorithm giving priority to users having the largest path loss leads to the best performance     

Cooperative Communications in Ultra-Wideband Wireless Body Area Networks: Channel Modeling and System Diversity Analysis

In this paper, we explore the application of cooperative communications in ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless body area networks (BANs), where a group of on-body devices may collaborate together to communicate with other groups of on-body equipment. Firstly, time-domain UWB channel measurements are presented to characterize the body-centric multipath channel and to facilitate the diversity analysis in a cooperative BAN (CoBAN). We focus on the system deployment scenario when the human subject is in the sitting posture. Important channel parameters such as the pathloss, power variation, power delay profile (PDP), and effective received power (ERP) crosscorrelation are investigated and statistically analyzed. Provided with the model preliminaries, a detailed analysis on the diversity level in a CoBAN is provided. Specifically, an intuitive measure is proposed to quantify the diversity gains in a single-hop cooperative network, which is defined as the number of independent multipaths that can be averaged over to detect symbols. As this measure provides the largest number of redundant copies of transmitted information through the body-centric channel, it can be used as a benchmark to access the performance bound of various diversity-based cooperative schemes in futuristic body sensor systems.     

VANET网络中小尺度衰落信道仿真

车载网络（VANET）是智能交通系统的核心部分,能够提高道路交通的安全性与高效性。分析电波在VANET网络中的传播特点,着重分析该网络中双移动节点间的小尺度衰落信道,包括多普勒功率谱模型和用成型滤波器法仿真VANET网络中小尺度衰落信道特性,给出经历该信道后接收信号的包络。仿真结果表明,随着移动车辆速度比增大,接收信号衰落更深。该结果对于VANET网络下无线多媒体业务性能评估有着重要的作用。     

60 GHz芯片间无线互连系统中的Rake接收性能

在60 GHz芯片间无线互连信道中存在着多径干扰问题,采用Rake接收是提高系统性能的重要手段。针对脉冲超宽带( IR-UWB)的芯片间无线互连系统,分析了多径信道下Rake接收机的误码性能。在IEEE 802.15.3 c信道模型基础上,对不同分支数以及不同合并方案下的选择Rake ( S-Rake)和部分Rake(P-Rake)接收机误码性能进行了研究。仿真结果表明采用支路数为2的P-Rake在数据速率为10 Gb/s时仍具有良好的抗多径性能,这为芯片间无线互连系统的Rake接收方案提供了技术参考。     

Propagation modelling for indoor wireless communication

It is important to characterise the indoor radio propagation channel to ensure satisfactory performance of a wireless communication system. Site measurements can be costly; propagation models have been developed as a suitable low-cost alternative. The existing models can be classified into two major classes: statistical models and site-specific propagation models. Statistical models rely on measurement data; site-specific propagation models are based on electromagnetic wave propagation theory. The ray-tracing technique is very useful in site-specific propagation modelling. This paper gives an overview of indoor propagation modelling and concentrates on a discussion of the ray-tracing modelling technique because of its practical appeal and its applicability to any environment     

Microcells in personal communications systems

Research projects involving fiber-connected microcell base units, measurements and models of propagation in urban microcells, and radio link performance in urban microcells are summarized. Developments in microcell system issues, such as channel assignments and handoff in microcells and architectures for combining microcells with traditional macrocells, are discussed. Research on both indoor radio propagation and wireless indoor systems is reviewed     

Understanding Link Behavior of Non-intrusive Wireless Body Sensor Networks

The wireless body sensor network (BSN) is used to detect and transmit physiological data such as vital signs by using radio wave communication. It offers a large saving potential for future healthcare applications because hospitalization of patients with chronic diseases can be kept at a minimum. The radio wave communication on the human body is impacted by the dielectric properties, the posture, and the movement of the body. Under these conditions a highly dynamic link-state and link quality are observed. In this paper we present a study of the link layer behavior of wireless BSNs operating at 2.45 GHz. We report on a wearable body-centric network operation in realistic environments from which we characterize the wireless channels based on a novel test framework. Our test framework uses a 200 ms time resolution for sampling of the wireless links between on-body sensor nodes. We record the received signal strength indicator and link quality indicator values as well as the packet delivery statistics in real-time. Based on recorded experiments we quantify the potential packet delivery performance and energy gain that can be obtained by using dynamic routing and adaptive transmission power schemes, respectively. Subsequently we formulate a set of requirements for the next revision of our prototype wireless BSN developed at Aarhus University School of Engineering in Denmark.     

Performance of IR-UWB cross-layer ranging protocols under on-body channel models with body area networks

This paper deals with the positioning performance of the 3-Way ranging protocol (3-WR) in a wireless body area network (WBAN). The purpose is to propose a new cooperative algorithm to improve the number of estimated positions with a conditional permutation of the on-body anchors. To do so, we first evaluate and analyze the positioning success rate under a realistic mobility scenario and using two scheduling strategies: Broadcast single node localization (P2P-B) and aggregated and broadcast (A&B)) with a medium access control (MAC) layer based on time division multiple access (TDMA). The 3-WR estimates the distance between two nodes placed on the body with the transmission of three packets. The wireless transmission is based on impulse radio ultra wideband (IR-UWB). However, these transactions can be lost through the WBAN channel leading into a “bad positioning service.” We consider a physical layer based on IR-UWB with three different channels: (1) an empirical theoretical model based on the on-body CM3 path loss channel (Anechoic chamber), (2) a simulated channel calculated by ray-tracing with the PyLayers simulator, and (3) an experimental channel model obtained by measurements. Our results show that the channel affects the positioning success rate that decreases as a function of the sensitivity threshold at the receiver. This can be solved with long and short term analysis for the choice of virtual anchors to increase the positioning performance.     

基于超宽带信道的无线通用串行总线测试与分析

无线通用串行总线系统被视为下一代无线个人局域网通信的关键技术之一,并且被基于多频带正交频分复用技术的超宽带公共无线电平台进行标准化.文中对无线通用串行总线系统在超宽带通信信道中进行性能测试,其中使用了4个超宽带信道模型,每个模型使用100个现实通信信道.实验表明,无线通用串行总线系统在室内多径传输环境下能实现低速200 Mb/s 10 m和高速480 Mb/s 4 m的传输性能,达到了高速无线个人局域网技术的要求.     

An attempt to model the human body as a communication channel

Using the human body as a transmission medium for electrical signals offers novel data communication in biomedical monitoring systems. In this paper, galvanic coupling is presented as a promising approach for wireless intra-body communication between on-body sensors. The human body is characterized as a transmission medium for electrical current by means of numerical simulations and measurements. Properties of dedicated tissue layers and geometrical body variations are investigated, and different electrodes are compared. The new intra-body communication technology has shown its feasibility in clinical trials. Excellent transmission was achieved between locations on the thorax with a typical signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 20 dB while the attenuation increased along the extremities.     

Performance of On-Body Chest-to-Waist UWB Communication Link

On-body area ultra wideband (UWB) communication is promising for biomedical applications. In this letter, the performance of an on-body UWB chest-to-waist link, which corresponds to a communication link from a biotical sensor at the chest to a coordinator receiver at the waist, is investigated. The channel model is first derived based on the frequency-dependent finite difference time domain method and a realistic-shaped human body model with an emphasis on the statistical variations of body postures. Then the bit error rate for a RAKE receiver is obtained.      

Low-power IR-UWB coherent TOA estimators with suboptimal sinusoidal templates for UWB-based body area networks

In this article, we propose and study the performance of low-power impulse radio ultra-wideband correlation-based time-of-arrival (TOA) estimators for body area networks. In particular, we study and compare the signal-to-noise-ratio degradation of TOA correlator-based estimators assuming optimal, real and complex suboptimal sinusoidal templates. Moreover, we study the improved Ziv-Zakai lower bound for complex suboptimal-template based TOA estimators. Then, we study and compare the performance of practical correlator-based TOA estimators using optimal, real and complex suboptimal sinusoidal templates via simulations in the IEEE 802.15.6a UWB on-body channel model as well as actual on-body measurements. The performance of real suboptimal template-based estimators approaches the performance of optimal TOA estimators based on simulations and actual measurements. We show that low-power is traded for a minimal performance loss.     

Efficient resource utilization through carrier grouping forhalf-duplex communication in GSM-based MEO mobile satellitenetworks

In the near future, existing terrestrial radio networks are envisioned to integrate with satellite systems in order to provide global coverage. In order to establish communication for both nonhand-held and hand-held user terminals, the radio link design must allow full- and half-duplex operation, respectively, where the latter is desirable when radiation power restrictions are imposed. In addition, due to user mobility and wireless channel volatility, sophisticated resource management is required, so as to enhance system capacity. However, a major inherent problem of the satellite link is propagation delay, which may lead to inefficient resource allocation and reduced spectral efficiency. We address the resource allocation problem that arises in the context of a medium-Earth-orbit (MEO) satellite system with half-duplex communication capabilities. MEO satellite systems are characterized by large propagation delays and large intrabeam delay variations, which are shown to result in resource consumption. We propose a channel classification scheme, in which the available carriers are partitioned into classes and each class is associated with a range of propagation delays to the satellite. The suggested infrastructure results in better channel utilization and reduced call blocking rate and can be implemented with low signaling load     

无线局域网信道特性的研究

无线信道是整个现代数字无线移动通信研究的基础,从电磁波传播方式、无线信道对传输信号的影响以及等效低通信道的时变冲激响应等几个方面对无线信道的特性进行了研究。结果表明,信号通过无线信道传播时,会产生各种形式的衰落,衰落对无线移动通信系统传输性能的影响是很大的,在实际中应设法消除。     

Performance analysis of wireless communication system over nonidentical cascaded generalised gamma fading channels

Multiplicative fading statistics usually encountered in different radio propagation environments. In this context, we evaluate and analyse the performance of a wireless communication system over the nonidentical cascaded generalised Gamma Fading Channels, also known as generalised Bessel‐K fading channel. To this end, the closed‐form expressions for the amount of fading (AOF), the outage probability (OP), the average symbol error probability (SEP), and the channel capacity are derived. In addition approximate expressions for the average SEP with maximal ratio combining (MRC) diversity are also provided. The low‐ and high‐power solutions for the channel capacity are also provided. Furthermore, simplified asymptotic average SEP expressions for MRC and selection combining (SC) are presented to gain the system performance with diversity. The proposed methodologies provide more flexibility to accommodate different radio propagation scenarios. To examine the accuracy of the proposed solutions, numerical and simulation results are compared and shown to fit for variety of fading parameters.     

Broadband wireless local-area networks at millimeter waves around 60 GHz

During the past few years, research covering propagation, channel characterization, and wireless system performance has yielded a substantial knowledge of the 60 GHz channel. The unlicensed 60 GHz frequency band presents many attractive properties for wireless communications. This paper addresses some wideband propagation characteristics for broadband wireless LANs (BWLANs). Important system-design characteristics, from measured results obtained from two wideband 60 GHz LOS radio links, are presented. Measurements were undertaken using the swept-frequency channel-sounding method. Analysis from the complex frequency responses in a worst-case scenario has yielded a lower-coherence-bandwidth value of 5 MHz. Minimum and maximum B/sub 0.9/ coherence bandwidths, obtained with a directional-horn transmitting antenna and an omnidirectional receiving antenna, were 1.10 MHz and 105.33 MHz, respectively. It was observed that the coherence bandwidth fluctuated significantly with the location of the receiver with respect to the base station. These results can be used for the modeling and design of future BWLANs.     

A new adaptive MAC layer protocol for broadband packet wirelessnetworks in harsh fading and interference environments

A new medium-access protocol is proposed for sharing a high-speed radio channel among a number of small wireless packet-access units, some of which may be stationary and some of which may be within moving vehicles. Such a system could provide fixed-point pedestrian and remote users with wireless access to CPU and database resources of an underlying asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) wireline network, essentially extending the ATM bandwidth-upon-demand interface directly to the wireless units and enabling delivery of multimedia services (albeit at the lower peak rate afforded by the radio channel). A primary goal of the proposed medium-access protocol is the pre-delivery of a signal from each packet-access unit as needed to rapidly compute the weights needed by a base station's adaptive array processor or a space-time processor, thereby protecting the packet flow in each direction from the effects of both multipath propagation and adjacent channel interference arising in neighboring radio cells. An impairment-robust direct sequence spread-spectrum-based polling signal is invoked to stimulate a pilot tone from a given remote immediately prior to packet transfer in either direction, thereby permitting the base station to determine a good set of antenna element combining or power splitting weights to be used for that packet. Reasonable approximations are invoked to study the performance of the proposed protocol and the link utilization efficiency and average message delay are found. By proper choice of protocol parameters, a radio resource utilization efficiency of about 95% is readily achieved. The accuracy of the approximations is confirmed by extensive computer simulations