Intrabody Communication in Biotelemetry

Past Results, Present Trends, and Future Challenges in Intrabody Communication

“…In the capacitive coupling approach, body positions and movements of the subject, as well as change of the environment, can lead to different measurement results for the same setup, while the influence of the anthropometrical characteristics on the transmission are almost negligible [28,29,38,146,151]. This is because in the capacitive intrabody approach the signal transmission path is closed through the human body, and the return signal path is closed capacitively through the environment [29,176]. The return signal path is always the path with the lowest impedance between the receiver and transmitter electrodes.…”

“…Three fundamental stages of any communication system are transmitter, communication channel, and receiver [176,186]. A typical IBC transmitter consists of a sensor, an analog-todigital converter (ADC) for analog preprocessing, a modulator, and a coupler with electrodes, adapted to the type of the IBC technique used.…”

“…They should be small and light and have full integration ability and energy efficiency and have the ability to transmit at low power. Therefore, main parameters that need to be considered during the IBC transceiver design are transmitter output power, receiver sensitivity (minimum signal power required to receive data correctly), carrier signal frequency, data rate, modulation method, and communication interface (transmitter output and receiver input comprising both couplers and electrodes) [176,186]. Transmitter output power should be kept as low as possible due to the health and safety reasons (see Section 2.3) and battery longevity issues, yet high enough in order for signal to be detected by the receiver placed at the desired distance from the transmitter.…”

A Novel Intrabody Communication Transceiver for Biomedical Applications

“…The induced current intensity at specific frequencies determines the intensity of the electrical shock through the body [79]. For instance the maximum harmless induced current for IBC should be 20 mA at frequency range of 100 kHz to 110 MHz (general public exposure) [80]. During our experiments, to prevent any possible risks, the measurement equipment will be connected to the power line (50 Hz mains) via a portable "medical grade…”

“…To this end, the physiological capabilities, physical activities, and vital signs of athletes need to be closely monitored and recorded by the coaches through long-term monitoring [5]. According to a report by ABI Research, the market for sports and fitness-related monitoring devices is projected to reach 80 Currently, multiple sensors attached to different body locations for monitoring patients' vital signs are widely used in health care monitoring due to their high recognition accuracy and low computational load [7]. For instance, brain and muscles activities need to be continuously monitored in patients with Parkinson's disease [8].…”