An Attempt to Model the Human Body as a Communication Channel

Marc Simon Wegmueller, Andreas Kuhn, Juerg Froehlich, Michael Oberle, Norbert Felber, Niels Kuster, and Wolfgang Fichtner, in IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, Volume 54, Issue 10, pp. 1851–1857, October 2007. Published online September 17

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.

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