Terahertz Channel Characterization Inside the Human Skin for Nano-Scale Body-Centric Networks

Abstract

. (2016) Terahertz channel characterization inside the human skin for nano-scale body-centric networks. IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology, 6(3), pp. 427-434. (doi:10.1109/TTHZ.2016.2542213) This is the author's final accepted version.There may be differences between this version and the published version. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it.http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/141057/ Abstract-This paper focuses on the development of novel radio channel model inside the human skin at the terahertz range, which will enable the interaction among potential nano-machines operating in the inter cellular areas of the human skin. Thorough studies are performed on the attenuation of electromagnetic waves inside the human skin, while taking into account the frequency of operation, distance between the nano-machines and number of sweat ducts. A novel channel model is presented for communication of nano-machines inside the human skin and its validation is performed by varying the aforementioned parameters with a reasonable accuracy. The statistics of error prediction between simulated and modeled data are: mean (µ) = 0.6 dB and standard deviation (σ) = 0.4 dB, which indicates the high accuracy of prediction model as compared with measurement data from simulation. In addition, the results of proposed channel model are compared with Terahertz Time Domain Spectroscopy based measurement of skin sample and the statistics of error prediction in this case are: µ = 2.10 dB and σ = 6.23 dB, which also validates the accuracy of proposed model. Results in this paper highlight the issues and related challenges while characterizing the communication in such a medium, thus paving the way towards novel research activities devoted to the design and the optimization of advanced applications in the health-care domain.

THz time domain characterization of human skin tissue for nano-electromagnetic communication

“…On the other hand, spreading pathloss is introduced by the expansion of the wave in the medium. More information on channel parameters is provided in details in previous papers by the authors [6,9]. This study suggests that absorption due to water; propagation distance, and frequency range affects the path loss.…”

An Analytical Approach to Flow-Guided Nanocommunication Networks

“…Flow-guided nanocommunication networks pose two important challenges that must be addressed. On the one hand, as the miniaturization of the radiating antenna integrated into each nano-node demands the use of high frequencies to communicate (around 1 THz [2,8]), the attenuation of electromagnetic signals within the human body (largely made up of water) is very high [9,10]. Inherently, this high path loss severely limits the communication range, making direct communication between nano-nodes and a macro device (e.g., a wearable device or a smartphone) impractical [3,11].…”

Analytical modelling of the effect of noise on the terahertz in-vivo communication channel for body-centric nano-networks

“…Besides, the envisioned EM nano-communication is handled in the THz band because of its non-ionisation hazards for biological tissues and less susceptibility to some of the propagation effects (i.e., Rayleigh scattering etc.) [5,6]. Some studies have been conducted on the applicability of THz communication for biomedical applications in [2,7,8], which motivates further investigation on the channel characterisation of the in-vivo nano-networks at the THz band and the development of novel models for system performance assessment and link quality analysis.…”