Wearable Antennas for Body-Centric Wireless Networks

Lead Research Organisation: Queen Mary University of London
Department Name: Sch of Electronic Eng & Computer Science

Abstract

Communications on the human body is a relatively unexplored commodity for the personal and mobile communications community. Up to now mobile phone technologies have allowed the user to talk anytime anywhere. But in the developed world this market is becoming saturated and so much has been invested into providing third generation phones with multimedia services. Cameras and low capacity MP3 players are now standard. What does the future hold? The big vision is of people wearing a multitude of sensors, processors, data storage for health or occupational or entertainment reasons and all of these being connected either by wireless or by wires in special clothing. These units may even be inside the body to provide medical solutions such as automatic drug metering and bladder control etc. The well known mobile phone with Bluetooth headset is an example of a wireless on-body link. The famous white iPod headset is perhaps an example of a wired system that needs to be replaced by wireless. Apple, the makers of the iPod, and Nike have recently agreed to collaborate on specially designed footwear that would allow the wearer to use their iPod to monitor time, calories burned and pace, and which uses a wireless communication link, between the iPod and the shoe. These examples show the way that technology is moving in the mass market. In addition, for some time now both the military and the special services, such as firefighters, have been using on-body systems to support their users in various hazardous environments and the use of wireless to remove or reduce the wiring harness is important. What is needed to make the big vision happen? Manufacturers will always simply use existing systems for new applications. The use of Bluetooth for the mobile phone headset is an example of this. It is a wireless system developed for another use, namely connection of peripherals to computers. But to optimise the operation, that is to improve the reliability and reduce battery consumption, requires a deeper understanding of both the radiowave propagation channel on the body and how to design the antennas. In a previous EPSRC grant the University of Birmingham and Queen Mary University of London, began this pioneering work of understanding the radio channel and identifying the factors important in antenna design. Much has been uncovered via extensive measurements of the way in which the channel and hence the received signal fades when the body moves have been made and the underlying statistics determined. However the research programme has only been working at the Bluetooth frequency, 2.45GHz, and mainly been characterising narrowband channels, but not the kinds of data rates needed in communications of live video. The proposed research is necessary to move the position forward to include more work on the design of optimised antennas both for this frequency and for others. For example, the best radiation pattern will be determined using statistical methods for a range of body types and body postures, and various frequencies, including much higher ones than examined so far. For example, operation at 40 or 60GHz would give the possibility of very high data rates and also very low interference between body networks close to each other, but will suffer from fading problems. Antenna diversity is a well known technique for fading reduction. Its use on the body will be investigated at various frequencies. The release of the spectrum from 3 to 10 GHz by the FCC has made ultra wideband systems a real possibility and its high capacity potential, low power and good anti-fading properties make it ideal for future on-body systems. However all of the antennas so far made are too big for realistic on-body use. Design of small wearable types will be investigated. Finally antennas for on body communications throw up immense challenges for computational methods and improved techniques will be investigated to support the whole research programme.

Publications

10 25 50
 
Description This proposal concerns a study of the design of antennas for on-body wireless networks. A previous EPSRC grant has allowed us to characterise various body channels at the 2.45 GHz ISM band and shown the need to develop design methodologies to optimally use these channels. We have also extended our work to other frequencies including millimetric wavebands and also to ultra wideband systems. The objectives can thus be summarised as follows:-

1, Defining the requirements for antennas for on-body communications at a range of frequencies, including millimetric wavebands, and a range of body types, including man, woman and child, a range of body channels including belt to head, belt to foot and so on, and a range of body postures, both stationary and dynamic.

2. Designing optimised antennas that meet the criteria above, or at least meet them for as many channels, body types and postures as possible.

3. Developing diversity and reconfigurable antennas for on-body channels, based on measurements of signal fading for the range of body situations noted above.

4. Investigating the design of multiband antennas, in the light of the requirements established and to develop novel solutions if these requirements are contradictory.

5. Developing small wearable ultra wideband antennas for on-body channels. This includes investigation and modification if necessary of the time domain characteristics of the antenna to offset body tissue property changes with frequency.

6. Investigating the performance of millimetric wave antennas on the body, and to develop optimised designs To develop improved simulation techniques to overcome the difficulties in modelling on-body communications presented by the large scale of the problem and to allow simulations of ultra wideband systems.



The key project findings include:-

1. The first specification of requirements for optimised on-body antennas.

2. The first development of optimised on-body antennas with distinctive radiation characteristics verified by link level evaluation.

3. The first on-body UWB time-domain radio channel characterisation and modelling. 4. The first investigation of millimetre wave antennas. for on-body channels Fast and accurate CAD for on-body UWB propagation system, through the use of a combination of the dispersive, sub-band and conformal FDTD.
Exploitation Route Communications on the human body is a relatively unexplored commodity for the personal and mobile communications community. Up to now mobile phone technologies have allowed the user to talk anytime anywhere. But in the developed world this market is becoming saturated and so much has been invested into providing third generation phones with multimedia services. Cameras and low capacity MP3 players are now standard. What does the future hold? The big vision is of people wearing a multitude of sensors, processors, data storage for health or occupational or entertainment reasons and all of these being connected either by wireless or by wires in special clothing. These units may even be inside the body to provide medical solutions such as automatic drug metering and bladder control etc. The well known mobile phone with Bluetooth headset is an example of a wireless on-body link. The famous white iPod headset is perhaps an example of a wired system that needs to be replaced by wireless. Apple, the makers of the iPod, and Nike have recently agreed to collaborate on specially designed footwear that would allow the wearer to use their iPod to monitor time, calories burned and pace, and which uses a wireless communication link, between the iPod and the shoe.



These examples show the way that technology is moving in the mass market. In addition, for some time now both the military and the special services, such as firefighters, have been using on-body systems to support their users in various hazardous environments and the use of wireless to remove or reduce the wiring harness is important. What is needed to make the big vision happen? Manufacturers will always simply use existing systems for new applications. The use of Bluetooth for the mobile phone headset is an example of this. It is a wireless system developed for another use, namely connection of peripherals to computers. But to optimise the operation, that is to improve the reliability and reduce battery consumption, requires a deeper understanding of both the radiowave propagation channel on the body and how to design the antennas. In a previous EPSRC grant the University of Birmingham and Queen Mary University of London, began this pioneering work of understanding the radio channel and identifying the factors important in antenna design.



Much has been uncovered via extensive measurements of the way in which the channel and hence the received signal fades when the body moves have been made and the underlying statistics determined. However the research programme has only been working at the Bluetooth frequency, 2.45GHz, and mainly been characterising narrowband channels, but not the kinds of data rates needed in communications of live video. The proposed research is necessary to move the position forward to include more work on the design of optimised antennas both for this frequency and for others. For example, the best radiation pattern will be determined using statistical methods for a range of body types and body postures, and various frequencies, including much higher ones than examined so far. For example, operation at 40 or 60GHz would give the possibility of very high data rates and also very low interference between body networks close to each other, but will suffer from fading problems. Antenna diversity is a well known technique for fading reduction. Its use on the body will be investigated at various frequencies. The release of the spectrum from 3 to 10 GHz by the FCC has made ultra wideband systems a real possibility and its high capacity potential, low power and good anti-fading properties make it ideal for future on-body systems. However all of the antennas so far made are too big for realistic onbody use. Design of small wearable types has been investigated. Finally antennas for on body communications throw up immense challenges for computational methods and improved techniques have been investigated to support the whole research programme. This proposal is aimed at the joint EPSRC/MOD funding scheme (JGS) since we believe a significant beneficiary will be the defence industry. In this context the project offers new solutions to wearable antennas, that can be exploited to be concealed and exhibit good radiation and a low profile. Thus key beneficiaries will be organisations such as ERA Technology, BAE SYSTEMS and QinetiQ. DSTL, via the JGS, will provide project monitoring and valuable technical input, particularly in the area of applications.



Wearable antennas also benefit civil industrial sectors, in particular, healthcare etc. We have identified Philips Redhill, a leading technical innovator in the medical sensor field with a proven track record of bringing high technology antenna solutions to market, as a project collaborator. These applications will almost certainly demand battery-powered, portable biosensors capable of transmitting and receiving data wirelessly while in use. In the collaboration proposed here Philips Redhill have provided technical input, applications advice and access to their advanced anechoic chamber for antenna measurement. The project has also benefited a wide range of industrial sectors including:- System designers. The leaders of a major EC funded Integrated Project, MAGNET, have acknowledged the important position of antennas and propagation in system design for personal and body area networks in the preface to our book "Antennas and Propagation for Body-Centric Wireless Communications". This work is also important both in systems specification and system design.



During this project, we have organised special sessions in many major conferences including EuCAP and IEEE APS. Interest in the topic of wearable antennas and on-body communications is building in the academic community and the work proposed has been of interest to the growing number of academics working in the area.
Sectors Aerospace

Defence and Marine

Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software)

Electronics

Healthcare

URL http://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/~yang/onbody.htm
 
Description Prof. Hao's work has been well recognized internationally. He has already given many keynote presentations at international conferences and has been invited to present at 40 conferences, academic institutions and companies. His study of body-worn communications includes 20 IEEE journal papers, including an IEEE Proceedings overview paper. He has also written a book entitled Antennas and Propagation for Body Centric Wireless Communications with (over 900 citations). To provide a forum for research progress in body-centric communications, he co-organized a biannual IET conference devoted to body-centric communications (http://conferences.theiet.org/body-centric/). This conference has now been held 4 times. He also organized two doctoral schools to enable early-stage researchers to learn about body-centric communication research through the European School of Antennas (ESoA, http://www.antennasvce.org/Community/Education/Courses/Locations).
First Year Of Impact 2013
Sector Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Electronics,Healthcare,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology
Impact Types Cultural

Societal

Economic

Policy & public services

 
Description EPSRC ICT Strategic Advisory Team Member
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Membership of a guideline committee
Impact Yang Hao has given advice to EPSRC, BIS and Dstl.
URL https://www.epsrc.ac.uk/research/ourportfolio/themes/ict/strategy/sat/
 
Description DSTL: Characterisation of On-body Antennas
Amount £47,000 (GBP)
Organisation Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 07/2008 
End 03/2009
 
Description DSTL: Prototyping Wearable Antennas
Amount £35,000 (GBP)
Organisation Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2008 
End 03/2009
 
Description EP/I00923X/1, PATRICIAN: New Paradigms for Body Centric Wireless Communications at MM Wavelengths
Amount £390,988 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/I009019/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2011 
End 07/2014
 
Description The Royal Society: Electrically Small Antennas loaded with Metamaterials for Body-centric Wireless Communications
Amount £75,000 (GBP)
Organisation The Royal Society 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2013 
End 12/2017
 
Description Toumaz Technology Ltd
Amount £149,248 (GBP)
Organisation Toumaz Technology Ltd 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start  
 
Description iRFSim for BSNs: Imaging based subject-specific RF simulation environment for wearable and implantable wireless Body Sensor Networks (BSNs)
Amount £390,988 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/I009019/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2011 
End 07/2014
 
Description DSTL 
Organisation Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL)
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
Start Year 2003
 
Title RF ELEMENT 
Description An optically transparent radio frequency or microwave device has first and second optically-transparent conductive substrates. Each carries a respective optically- transparent conductive electrode, and an optically- transparent liquid crystal layer forming a dielectric between the electrodes. The dielectric properties of the liquid crystal layer are controlled by application of a variable bias between the electrodes, to vary a resonant frequency of the device. 
IP Reference WO2011042699 
Protection Patent application published
Year Protection Granted 2011
Licensed Commercial In Confidence
Impact Related work has been used for Ka/Ku satellite antenna applications.
 
Description IET Seminar on Transformation Optics 2012 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Type Of Presentation keynote/invited speaker
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Dissemination of QUEST research and discovering similar work by others in the field, informing future work. Getting input from industrial attendees.

None
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2012
 
Description Mobihealth 2015 conference chair, London. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact The objectives of this conference are to advance medical diagnosis, treatment, and patient care through application of wireless communications, mobile computing and sensing technologies. Contributions will be solicited regarding the interdisciplinary design of efficient technologies and protocols to help implement and provide advanced mobile health care applications. The essence of the conference lies in its interdisciplinary nature, with original contributions cutting across boundaries but all within the ambit of the application of mobile communications (technologies, standards, solutions, methodologies) aiming at the betterment of human health. As such, the conference will have a multi-tier approach, going from in-body sensor devices to ubiquitous patient monitoring environments.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://mobihealth.name/2015/show/cf-papers
 
Description NewStatesman "A short history of invisibility cloaks", 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact A history of invisibility cloak was introduced.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/technology/2015/09/short-history-invisibility-cloaks