On-body to on-body channel characterization

Abstract

Interest in on-body communication channels is growing as the use of wireless devices increases in medical, consumer and military sensor applications. This paper presents an experimental investigation and analysis of the narrowband on-body propagation channel. This analysis considers each of the factors affecting the channel during a range of stationary and motion activities in different environments with actual wireless mote devices on the body. Use of such motes allows greater freedom in the subject's movements and the inclusion of real-world indoor and outdoor environments in a test sequence. This paper identifies and analyses the effect of the different components of the signal propagation (mean propagation path gain, large-scale fading and small-scale fading) and the cause of the losses and variation due to activities, positions or environmental factors. Our results show the effect on the received signal and the impact of voluntary and involuntary movements, which cause shadowing effects. The analysis also allows us to identify sensor positions on the body that are more reliable and those positions that may require a relay or those that may be suitable for acting as a relay

Towards Motion Invariant Authentication for On-Body IoT Devices

“…On the other hand, on-body links are governed by creeping waves, which are diffracted by human tissues and spread out along the human body [10]. Previous measurements [9] indicate that creeping waves are rarely disturbed by multi-path fading (small-scale fading) or large-scale fading caused by Tx-Rx distance changes or shadowing, but are largely influenced by body motions. Thus, we see that distinct propagation patterns exist between on-and off-body signals.…”

“…The salient physical layer (PHY) signatures underlying different BANs present us with an exciting opportunity. In BAN channels, off-body signals are mainly comprised of line-of-sight (LOS) and multi-path components, while onbody signals are governed by creeping waves [9], [10]. The distinct radio propagation patterns potentially enable a general security solution relying on prevalent wireless chips.…”

BANA: Body Area Network Authentication Exploiting Channel Characteristics

“…Received signals of on-body sensors are further affected by human movements and motions, device placement, and surrounding environment. As shown in [51], for on-body channels, the distance between transmitter and receiver is weakly correlated to the path loss since shadowing effect is more influential due to different body shapes. Besides, [52] stated that shadowing can be also caused by voluntary and involuntary movements, which affects LOS.…”

Ask-Ban

“…For different positions on the body, the received signals are further affected by human movements, device placement and surrounding environment. [9] has shown that for on-body channels, the distance between transmitter and receiver has weak correlation to the path loss since shadowing effect has more influence due to different body shapes. Besides, [8] points out that both voluntary and involuntary movements also cause shadowing affecting the line-of-sight.…”