PATRICIAN: New Paradigms for Body Centric Wireless Communications at MM Wavelengths
Lead Research Organisation:
Queen Mary University of London
Department Name: Sch of Electronic Eng & Computer Science
Abstract
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Organisations
- Queen Mary University of London (Lead Research Organisation)
- Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL) (Collaboration)
- Huawei Technologies (Collaboration)
- General Electric (Collaboration)
- Thales Group (Collaboration)
- Qinetiq (United Kingdom) (Collaboration)
- Huawei Technologies Sweden AB (Collaboration)
Publications
Yang K
(2015)
Numerical Analysis and Characterization of THz Propagation Channel for Body-Centric Nano-Communications
in IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology
Yang X
(2014)
Risks posed by obesity to body-surface narrowband wireless communication
in Chinese Science Bulletin
Yilmaz T
(2019)
Radio-Frequency and Microwave Techniques for Non-Invasive Measurement of Blood Glucose Levels.
in Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland)
Zhang L
(2012)
Millimetre-wave-imaging system at 95 GHz - quantitative performance evaluation
in IET Microwaves, Antennas & Propagation
| Description | Body-centric wireless communications refers to human-self and human-to-human networking with the use of wearable and implantable wireless sensors. It is a subject area combining wireless body-area networks (WBANs), Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) and Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs). Body-centric wireless communications has abundant applications for the dismounted soldier, and in personal healthcare, smart home, personal entertainment systems, and space exploration. Previous studies funded by EPSRC were focused on antennas and radio propagation for body-centric wireless communications at Zigbee and ultra-wideband frequencies. Although on-body communications have advanced in recent years, many applications still are not served by current standards and technology, and the perceived low security has led to slow uptake of the technology. In particular, there is not currently a wireless solution for applications that require high levels of electromagnetic energy control, to minimise interference with other equipment and susceptibility to observation and jamming, coupled with high data rates. Some of the general applications that need these features include: • Secure and high-bandwidth wireless links for dismounted soldiers on the battlefield for body condition monitoring and for integrating a modular system of weapons and their sighting systems • Delivery of high-definition uncompressed medical standard video and audio data in hospital and clinic environments • Wearable systems for high rate data used in crowded environments, such as sports events, shopping malls, etc The first two, relating to wireless defence and healthcare, are potentially very significant and are specifically targeted in this work. The use of millimetric wavelengths has the potential to meet these aspirations and have been studied in this project. The band around 60 GHz has drawn increased attention from researchers despite earlier hiccups associated with the cost of producing commercial products. With advances in millimetre-wave chipsets manufacturing, led by for example INTEL and IBM, the band had been opened up by various regulatory authorities, and standards such as IEEE 802.15.3c for wireless PAN have recently appeared. The band has significant advantages for body area networks, in particular, • Very small size of equipment on the body • High signal integrity and low visibility at the RF level, due to good radiation control using directional or reconfigurable antennas and high attenuation beyond the body area. The key findings of this project include • conducting the first on-body channel measurement campaign in the millimetrewave band and to establish wearable antenna design requirements. • investigating and implementing diversity and multiple millimetrewave wearable antennas leading to reduced susceptibility to shadowing. • developing planar single antennas with high gain and angular resolution based on transformation electromagnetics for off-body communication and to control on-body surface wave propagation. • applying highly compact cylindrical Fabry-Perot resonant antennas to enhance on-body radio links. • researching efficient modelling tools incorporating the time-domain equivalence principle for characterisation of wearable millimetrewave antennas with associated RFICs. • revolutionising dynamic channel characterisation including human body movement and indoor environment effects based on statistical electromagnetic modelling. |
| Exploitation Route | For more than 15 years, the University of Birmingham (UoB) and Queen Mary, University of London, (QMUL), have been the flagship of body-centric wireless communication research worldwide. The first book in this field in 2006,"Antennas and Propagation for Body Centric Wireless Communications", was edited by Professors Hall and Hao. They also organised the first course for the European School of Antennas and an IEEE Transactions Antennas and Propagation Special Issue. |
| 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 is credited for coining the term 'Body-centric wireless communications'. This area refers to networking among wearable and implantable wireless sensors on the human body. In 2003, Prof. Hao and his co-worker carried out the first pioneering work to characterize and include the human body as a communication medium. He was the first to demonstrate that radio propagation on the human body's surface is associated with significant path loss and time delay variations (dispersion). He noted that on-body antennas suffer from reduced efficiency, radiation pattern changes and impedance variations. Therefore, he focused on using surface and creeping waves as the communication medium between on-body sensors; he developed the theory for modeling these waves in presence of the human body, and proceeded to design antennas for reliable on-body communications using accurate/realistic models. Along the way, he demonstrated that on-body surface and creeping wave play a critical role on the effectiveness of on-body connectivity. In addition to on-body channel modeling studies, for the past 10 years, Prof. Hao pioneered the study of on-body antennas at frequencies 10 MHz to 100 GHz. This study led to the design of low profile antennas that can reliably achieve on-body communications. Specifically, he developed several body-worn antennas with spatial diversity at UHF/VHF and UWB frequencies, and woodpile EBG antennas at 60GHz and 94GHz to enable on/off-body communications for defense and healthcare applications. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2015 |
| Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Electronics,Healthcare |
| Impact Types | Societal,Economic |
| Description | Advisory Board Member for SIAT, Chinese Academy of Science, Shen Zhen, China |
| Geographic Reach | Asia |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | The Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) comprise five institutes and numerous other labs and facilities. SIAT was jointly established by CAS, the Shenzhen municipal government and the Chinese University of Hong Kong in February 2006. SIAT aims to enhance the innovative capacity of the equipment manufacturing and service industries in the Guangdong-Hong Kong region, promote the development of emerging industries possessing their own proprietary intellectual property, and become a world-class industrial research institute. The role of advisory board member is to monitor the progress of research progress and give advice on their future directions. |
| URL | http://english.siat.cas.cn/ |
| 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 | IET reacts to Industrial Strategy White Paper |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
| Impact | Dear Yang Thank you for joining us at the Pillar 8 Industrial Strategy workshop on Cultivating World Leading Sectors in March. All of your comments were fed back into the report, which has now been completed and is available to download here: http://www.theiet.org/policy/ind-strat/ind-strat.cfm?type=pdf The IET will be continuing its work in this area, and we are currently supporting the Government commissioned Review of Industrial Digitalisation led by Juergen Maier, UK CEO of Siemens, as part of the process of developing an Industrial Strategy for the UK. An important part of this review is to understand the barriers that prevent investment/adoption of digital technology. Uptake in the UK is too low and the Government wants to understand why that is and more importantly what policies should be considered to improve investment and increase UK productivity. It is an opportunity for you to directly influence Government industrial policy as it applies to Digital technology in Industry and as such I very much hope that you will invest 10 minutes to make your voice heard. Please use the link to complete the survey: http://industrialdigitalisation.org.uk/your-voice/ Please do let me know if you have any questions. Kind regards Hannah Hannah Conway Project Coordinator The Institution of Engineering and Technology T: +44 (0)1438 767266 M: +44 (0)7725 207925 |
| URL | https://www.theiet.org/policy/media/press-releases/Industrial_strategy_white_paper_2017.cfm |
| Description | Adaptive Tools for Electromagnetics and Materials Modelling to Bridge the Gap between Design and Manufacturing (AOTOMAT) |
| Amount | £935,611 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/P005578/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2016 |
| End | 12/2019 |
| 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 | 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 | Frequency Agile Antennas |
| Amount | £270,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2015 |
| End | 05/2018 |
| Description | SOFTWARE DEFINED MATERIALS FOR DYNAMIC CONTROL OF ELECTROMAGENTIC WAVES (ANIMATE) |
| Amount | £1,631,777 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/R035393/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2018 |
| End | 08/2022 |
| Description | SYnthesizing 3D METAmaterials for RF, microwave and THz applications (SYMETA) |
| Amount | £4,000,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/N010493/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2016 |
| End | 02/2021 |
| Description | TERAhertz high power LINKS using photonic devices, tube amplifiers and Smart antennas (TERALINKS) |
| Amount | € 1,000,000 (EUR) |
| Funding ID | EP/P016421/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2017 |
| End | 12/2018 |
| Description | THz Antenna Fabrication and Measurement Facilities (TERRA) |
| Amount | £1,232,783 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/S010009/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 12/2018 |
| End | 11/2021 |
| 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 | Antenna Designs for Wearable Watches |
| Organisation | Huawei Technologies |
| Country | China |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Novel antennas have been designed and filed with a patent application. Three IEEE Transaction papers have been submitted or published. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Financial support was provided for a PhD student over three years. More research collaborations have been initiated with the company. |
| Impact | Three journal papers have been submitted and published. One patent was filed in 2016. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Applications of high impedance surface and other materials or methods in antenna designs for mobile devices at millimeter frequencies with an aim to reduce EM exposure to human body |
| Organisation | Huawei Technologies |
| Country | China |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Description of the Project To develop flexible and compact HIS for millimeter wave frequencies and 5G. The HIS device is expected to operate freely, without degrading antenna performance. SAR reduction must be demonstrated for mobile applications. The prototype device will be made with innovative fabrication tools including 3D printing and graphene ink etc. The Work Plan Specified below: ? Stage 1: Oct.1 2018 ~ Oct.1 2019 Design and manufacture HIS antennas for future mobile devices ? Stage 2: Oct.1 2019 ~ Oct.1 2020 Demonstration of novel design approaches for HIS design including the use of characteristic mode theory and optimisation techniques ? Stage 3: Oct.1 2020 ~ Oct.1 2021 Testing, verification and integration of the proposed design with mobile devices, initially within controlled environments (i.e., lab based) and ultimately with different test subjects and within different locations and environments (e.g., indoor, outdoors). Develop guidelines for: the specific absorption rate (SAR), the minimum transceiver power requirements needed to transfer collected information to a nearby mobile device The Deliverables of every stage include the reports, papers or thesis on the research work, which must pass the review by the Industrial supervisor team led by Dr. Hanyang Wang. |
| Collaborator Contribution | PhD studentship contributions |
| Impact | PhD recruitment is still ongoing |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Compact Rotman Lens for 5G base station antennas |
| Organisation | Huawei Technologies Sweden AB |
| Country | Sweden |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | A Rotman lens based compact beamforming system has been proposed for some time in terms of developing cost-effective beam-steering antennas. Original designs are often frequency-dependent and they are bulky for RF frequencies, which are targeted, for example, current generations of mobile communication. Conventional techniques for Rotman lens size reduction often result in increased fabrication costs and reduced antenna performance such as beam-scanning. In this proposal, we present two techniques for the miniaturisation of Rotman lens without degrading major antenna radiation performance. The new design is based on several techniques developed at Queen Mary University of London, including artificial dielectrics, metamaterials, transformation optics and advanced manufacturing. We anticipate that all proposed solutions are cost effective and can be scalable based on low cost substrate materials such as FR-4 for industrial applications. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Huawei is funding a PDRA for 6 months for a feasibility study. |
| Impact | The project is still ongoing. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | GE Corporate Research & Development |
| Organisation | General Electric |
| Department | GE Global Research |
| Country | India |
| Sector | Private |
| Start Year | 2003 |
| Description | SOFTWARE DEFINED MATERIALS FOR DYNAMIC CONTROL OF ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES (ANIMATE) |
| Organisation | Qinetiq |
| Department | QinetiQ (Farnborough) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The ultimate objective of ANIMATE is to remove the traditional boundary between the designs of antennas and RF/microwave electronics as well as materials and devices, so that a generic material platform can be developed that is programmable and flexible for multifunctional applications integrating communication, sensing and computation. Specifically, in this project, we will: 1. Establish a holistic approach of software-defined materials for communication, sensing and computation, by building novel integrated and adaptive antenna technologies. 2. Integrate wireless sensor networks into the design of computer interface and control units for tunable materials to demonstrate and validate the wholly new concept of "networked materials" at subwavelength scales. 3. Exploit challenging applications of proposed antenna and material technologies with our core industrial partners at all stages of development: prototyping, manufacturing, toolbox validation, platform integration and testing. 4. Research novel active and tunable materials and investigate fundamental limits of relevant materials to industrial challenges. 5. Develop simulation tools that span from materials, device and process modeling with intricate complexities that open up the design domain significantly and enable the production of optimal structures with improved performance. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our industrial partners are a vital part of our impact strategy, keeping our focus on what they need for innovative devices and systems to commercialise. We have recently established a strategic collaboration with Dr Sajad Haq (SH) and his team at QinetiQ (QQ), who have committed strong financial support and co-created the ANIMATE project. Other industrial collaborators include Thales UK, Huawei, BAE Systems, Satellite Application Catapult and UK SMEs including Flann Microwaves and Plextek, et al. We have a long history of collaborations with universities (Oxford, Sheffield, Exeter and Loughborough), some of whom (SYMETA) have provided letters of support for this application. |
| Impact | A news release from Qinetiq can be found from https://www.qinetiq.com/News/2018/06/Queen-Mary-Collaboration As the project just started, there has been no publishable outputs and outcomes. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | SOFTWARE DEFINED MATERIALS FOR DYNAMIC CONTROL OF ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES (ANIMATE) |
| Organisation | Thales Group |
| Department | Thales UK Limited |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The ultimate objective of ANIMATE is to remove the traditional boundary between the designs of antennas and RF/microwave electronics as well as materials and devices, so that a generic material platform can be developed that is programmable and flexible for multifunctional applications integrating communication, sensing and computation. Specifically, in this project, we will: 1. Establish a holistic approach of software-defined materials for communication, sensing and computation, by building novel integrated and adaptive antenna technologies. 2. Integrate wireless sensor networks into the design of computer interface and control units for tunable materials to demonstrate and validate the wholly new concept of "networked materials" at subwavelength scales. 3. Exploit challenging applications of proposed antenna and material technologies with our core industrial partners at all stages of development: prototyping, manufacturing, toolbox validation, platform integration and testing. 4. Research novel active and tunable materials and investigate fundamental limits of relevant materials to industrial challenges. 5. Develop simulation tools that span from materials, device and process modeling with intricate complexities that open up the design domain significantly and enable the production of optimal structures with improved performance. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our industrial partners are a vital part of our impact strategy, keeping our focus on what they need for innovative devices and systems to commercialise. We have recently established a strategic collaboration with Dr Sajad Haq (SH) and his team at QinetiQ (QQ), who have committed strong financial support and co-created the ANIMATE project. Other industrial collaborators include Thales UK, Huawei, BAE Systems, Satellite Application Catapult and UK SMEs including Flann Microwaves and Plextek, et al. We have a long history of collaborations with universities (Oxford, Sheffield, Exeter and Loughborough), some of whom (SYMETA) have provided letters of support for this application. |
| Impact | A news release from Qinetiq can be found from https://www.qinetiq.com/News/2018/06/Queen-Mary-Collaboration As the project just started, there has been no publishable outputs and outcomes. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Software Defined Materials for Antenna Applications |
| Organisation | Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | This project is aimed to develop a new paradigm for software defined materials with wireless sensor network at subwavelength scales, in industrial contexts, which can be programmable for current and evolving standards, security requirements and multiple functionalities. It arises from several industrial challenges relevant to the development of future wireless communication, radar and sensor systems, which require frequency agile, broadband and beam-steerable antenna solutions. It is related to topic areas including "materials for antennas" and "novel electromagnetic materials". |
| Collaborator Contribution | The ultimate objective of this PhD project is to remove the traditional boundary between the designs of antennas and RF/microwave electronics as well as materials and devices, so that a generic material platform can be developed that is programmable and flexible for multifunctional applications integrating communication, sensing and computation. |
| Impact | The project is about to start and PhD recruitment is in the process. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Title | ???? |
| Description | Disclosed in an embodiment of the present invention is a communication terminal, comprising an antenna which comprises a circuit board, a radiator, a first feed source, a first coupling structure, a second feed source and a second coupling structure. The radiator is disposed around an outer edge of the circuit board and an annular gap is formed between the radiator and the outer edge of the circuit board. The first feed source is electrically connected to the first coupling structure, which is coupled to the radiator in a first direction, and a current in a first polarization direction is formed on the circuit board through the radiator and the annular gap. The second feed source is electrically connected to the second coupling structure, which is coupled to the radiator in a second direction, and a current in a second polarization direction is formed on the circuit board through the radiator and the annular gap, the first direction being at an angle from the second direction. The antenna of the communication terminal has a smaller volume and a higher degree of isolation. |
| IP Reference | WO2017205998 |
| Protection | Patent application published |
| Year Protection Granted | 2017 |
| Licensed | Commercial In Confidence |
| Impact | Commercial in Confidence |
| 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 | Free Wi-Fi in the air? New antenna promises ultrafast in-flight broadband |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Professor Yang Hao of Queen Mary University is spearheading the project to develop a near-invisible satellite dish that he says "use simple materials that are dramatically cheaper than today's technology" after winning £300,000 from industry body, the Institution of Engineering and Technology. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/03/21/free-wi-fi-in-the-air-new-antenna-promises-ultrafast-... |
| Description | Invited talk by Google HQ |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | An invited talk at Google HQ on wearable antennas and technologies |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| 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 | Personal body networks go wireless at 2.4GHz |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The researchers at QMUL found that, as expected, this antenna assembly became significantly detuned if placed in direct contact with the body. However, it remains adequately tuned if located 3mm away from the body and, consequently, this 3mm separation was used for all the subsequent 'on body' measurements. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/16/05/2012/53666/personal-body-networks-go-wireless-at-2.4... |