Intra-body microwave communication through adipose tissue

• The human body can act as a medium for the transmission of electromagnetic waves in the wireless body sensor networks context. However, there are transmission losses in biological tissues due to the presence of water and salts. This Letter focuses on lateral intra-body microwave communication through different biological tissue layers and demonstrates the effect of the tissue thicknesses by comparing signal coupling in the channel. For this work, the authors utilise the R-band frequencies since it overlaps the industrial, scientific and medical radio (ISM) band. The channel model in human tissues is proposed based on electromagnetic simulations, validated using equivalent phantom and ex-vivo measurements. The phantom and ex-vivo measurements are compared with simulation modelling. The results show that electromagnetic communication is feasible in the adipose tissue layer with a low attenuation of approximate to 2 dB per 20 mm for phantom measurements and 4 dB per 20 mm for ex-vivo measurements at 2 GHz. Since the dielectric losses of human adipose tissues are almost half of ex-vivo tissue, an attenuation of around 3 dB per 20 mm is expected. The results show that human adipose tissue can be used as an intra-body communication channel.

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Medicinteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Medical Engineering (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Medicinsk bioteknologi -- Biomedicinsk laboratorievetenskap/teknologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Medical Biotechnology -- Biomedical Laboratory Science/Technology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

electromagnetic wave transmission

body sensor networks

biological tissues

phantoms

dielectric losses

wireless body sensor networks

transmission losses

water

salts

lateral intrabody microwave communication

biological tissue layers

tissue thicknesses

signal coupling

R-band frequencies

industrial radio band

scientific radio band

medical radio band

electromagnetic simulations

equivalent phantom

ex-vivo measurements

adipose tissue layer

phantom measurements

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)