The Role and Challenges of Body Channel Communication in Wearable Flexible Electronics

Zhao, Bo; Mao, Jingna; Zhao, Jian; Yang, Huazhong; Lian, Yong

doi:10.1109/tbcas.2020.2966285

Cited by 39 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 113 publications

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“…In an IBC or body channel communication (BCC) system the human body behaves as a volume conductor and is used as a part of the communication channel between the transmitters and receivers placed on the surface of the skin, in its vicinity, or implanted inside the user’s body [ 13 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ]. IBC systems use lower frequency band than standard wireless systems, and they have lower power consumption and lower range.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wireless Body Sensor Communication Systems Based on UWB and IBC Technologies: State-of-the-Art and Open Challenges

Čuljak

Vasić

Mihaldinec

et al. 2020

Sensors

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In recent years there has been an increasing need for miniature, low-cost, commercially accessible, and user-friendly sensor solutions for wireless body area networks (WBAN), which has led to the adoption of new physical communication interfaces providing distinctive advantages over traditional wireless technologies. Ultra-wideband (UWB) and intrabody communication (IBC) have been the subject of intensive research in recent years due to their promising characteristics as means for short-range, low-power, and low-data-rate wireless interfaces for interconnection of various sensors and devices placed on, inside, or in the close vicinity of the human body. The need for safe and standardized solutions has resulted in the development of two relevant standards, IEEE 802.15.4 (for UWB) and IEEE 802.15.6 (for UWB and IBC), respectively. This paper presents an in-depth overview of recent studies and advances in the field of application of UWB and IBC technologies for wireless body sensor communication systems.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wireless Body Sensor Communication Systems Based on UWB and IBC Technologies: State-of-the-Art and Open Challenges

Čuljak

Vasić

Mihaldinec

et al. 2020

Sensors

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“…The variable contact impedance also requires an extra margin at both the transmitter and receiver side, which results in an additional power budget. These necessitate impedance compensation techniques to maximize the power transfer at the electrode-to-skin interface [249], which can be done via matching networks [250]. At the cost of extra power margin, a commonly adopted way is increasing and decreasing the input and output impedance of the receiver and transceiver, respectively [251].…”

Section: ) Esi Circuit Representationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Internet of Bodies: A Systematic Survey on Propagation Characterization and Channel Modeling

Çelik

Salama

Eltawil

2022

IEEE Internet Things J.

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The Internet of Bodies (IoB) is an imminent extension to the vast Internet of things domain, where interconnected devices (e.g., worn, implanted, embedded, swallowed, etc.) located in-on-and-around the human body form a network. Thus, the IoB can enable a myriad of services and applications for a wide range of sectors, including medicine, safety, security, wellness, entertainment, to name but a few. Especially considering the recent health and economic crisis caused by novel coronavirus pandemic, a.k.a. COVID-19, the IoB can revolutionize today's public health and safety infrastructure. Nonetheless, reaping the full benefit of IoB is still subject to addressing related risks, concerns, and challenges. Hence, this survey first outlines the IoB requirements and related communication and networking standards. Considering the lossy and heterogeneous dielectric properties of the human body, one of the major technical challenges is characterizing the behavior of the communication links in-on-and-around the human body. Therefore, this paper presents a systematic survey of channel modeling issues for various link types of human body communication (HBC) channels below 100 MHz, the narrowband (NB) channels between 400 MHz and 2.5 GHz, and ultra-wideband (UWB) channels from 3 to 10 GHz. After explaining bio-electromagnetics attributes of the human body, physical and numerical body phantoms are presented along with electromagnetic propagation tool models. Then, the first-order (i.e., path loss, shadowing, multipath fading) and the second-order (i.e., delay spread, power delay profile, average fade duration, level crossing rate, etc.) channel statistics for NB and UWB channels are covered with a special emphasis on body posture, mobility, and antenna effects. For the HBC channels, three different coupling methods are considered: capacitive, galvanic, and magnetic. Based on these coupling methods, four different channel modeling methods (i.e., analytical, numerical, circuit, and empirical) are investigated, and electrode effects are discussed. Lastly, interested readers are provided with open research challenges and potential future research directions.

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“…While the capbank I offers the adjustable capacitive element, the capbank II and the off-chip inductor are used jointly as the equivalent inductive element needed for impedance matching. This avoids the usage of an inductor bank [26], which is not only impractical for onchip integration, but also bulky for wearable applications when implemented off-chip, considering the LSB to be in the hundred nH range at the transmission frequency of 40 MHz.…”

Section: System Architecturementioning

confidence: 99%

Body-Area Powering With Human Body-Coupled Power Transmission and Energy Harvesting ICs

Dong

Park

et al. 2020

IEEE Trans. Biomed. Circuits Syst.

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This paper presents the body-coupled power transmission and ambient energy harvesting ICs. The ICs utilize human body-coupling to deliver power to the entire body, and at the same time, harvest energy from ambient EM waves coupling through the body. The IC improves the recovered power level by adapting to the varying skin-electrode interface parasitic impedance at both the TX and RX. To maximize the power output from the TX, the dynamic impedance matching is performed amidst environment-induced variations. At the RX, the Detuned Impedance Booster (DIB) and the Bulk Adaptation Rectifier (BAR) are proposed to improve the power recovery and extend the power coverage further. In order to ensure the maximum power extraction despite the loading variations, the Dual-Mode Buck-Boost Converter (DM-BBC) is proposed. The ICs fabricated in 40 nm 1P8M CMOS recovers up to 100 μW from the body-coupled power transmission and 2.5 μW from the ambient body-coupled energy harvesting. The ICs achieve the full-body area power delivery, with the power harvested from the ambiance via the body-coupling mechanism independent of placements on the body. Both approaches show power sustainability for wearable electronics all around the human body. Index Terms-Body area network, body-coupled power transmission, body-coupled energy harvesting, energy harvesting, power transfer, impedance matching, rectifier, maximum power point tracking. I. INTRODUCTION OWERING wearable electronics such as earbuds, smart bandaids, and electrocardiography (ECG) sensors are challenging [1]-[3]. The limited battery lifetime incurs charging overhead, causes service disruptions, and inconveniences the users [4][5], which is aggravated further as the number of wearables increases. To address the issue and allow for sustainable operations, power transmission, and energy harvesting approaches have been proposed. Near-field power transmission approaches using the inductive link impose stringent requirements on the alignment Manuscript received DD-MMM-YYYY.

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The Role and Challenges of Body Channel Communication in Wearable Flexible Electronics

Cited by 39 publications

References 113 publications

Wireless Body Sensor Communication Systems Based on UWB and IBC Technologies: State-of-the-Art and Open Challenges

Wireless Body Sensor Communication Systems Based on UWB and IBC Technologies: State-of-the-Art and Open Challenges

The Internet of Bodies: A Systematic Survey on Propagation Characterization and Channel Modeling

Body-Area Powering With Human Body-Coupled Power Transmission and Energy Harvesting ICs

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