Body Communications

Abstract

The chapter describes the activity carried out in SIG-E of COST 2100 on body communications. Recent advances in wireless technology have led to the development of Wireless Body Area Networks (WBAN), where a set of communicating devices are located around the human body. In the case of medical applications, these devices are connected to sensors that monitor vital body parameters and movements. The WBAN have been considered not only for the medical and healthcare applications but also for sports and entertainment. WBANs comprise a series of miniature sensor/actuator nodes, each of which has its own energy supply for autonomous operation. The nodes will have enough intelligence to carry out their task and will be able to communicate with other sensor nodes or with a central node worn on the body. For medical applications, the very long battery lifetime is also important. The chapter is organised into three sections. The first section discusses the applications and the requirements of body communications. The second section presents the activity on channel measurements and modelling. Due to the differences of approaches, the section is further divided into three sections, i.e. in-body, on-body, and on-body to off-body. Both static and dynamic channels as well as antenna issues are covered. Finally, the third section addresses the transmission technology. This section introduces existing technologies and describes the contributions in the SIG-E for PHY, MAC and NET layers. Low-power design is also addressed in the section.