title: Study of channel characteristics for galvanic-type intra-body communication based on a transfer function from a quasi-static field model.
abstract: Intra-Body Communication (IBC), which modulates ionic currents over the human body as the communication medium, offers a low power and reliable signal transmission method for information exchange across the body. This paper first briefly reviews the quasi-static electromagnetic (EM) field modeling for a galvanic-type IBC human limb operating below 1 MHz and obtains the corresponding transfer function with correction factor using minimum mean square error (MMSE) technique. Then, the IBC channel characteristics are studied through the comparison between theoretical calculations via this transfer function and experimental measurements in both frequency domain and time domain. High pass characteristics are obtained in the channel gain analysis versus different transmission distances. In addition, harmonic distortions are analyzed in both baseband and passband transmissions for square input waves. The experimental results are consistent with the calculation results from the transfer function with correction factor. Furthermore, we also explore both theoretical and simulation results for the bit-error-rate (BER) performance of several common modulation schemes in the IBC system with a carrier frequency of 500 kHz. It is found that the theoretical results are in good agreement with the simulation results.
authors: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Macau, Macau 999078, China.
authors: Xi Mei
authors: XM
authors: Chen
authors: Peng Un
authors: PU
authors: Mak
authors: Sio Hang
authors: SH
authors: Pun
authors: Yue Ming
authors: YM
authors: Gao
authors: Chan-Tong
authors: CT
authors: Lam
authors: Mang I
authors: MI
authors: Vai
authors: Min
authors: M
authors: Du
mesh_terms: D015374:Biosensing Techniques; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D004867:Equipment Design; D005121:Extremities / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D055672:Static Electricity; D013686:Telemetry