A Spatially Aware Channel Model for Body-to-Body Communications

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an experimental-based body-to-body (B2B) channel characterization in an indoor environment at 2.4 GHz in the Industrial, Scientific and Medical band. The peculiarity of B2B channels suggests the extension of classical stochastic models toward one that is aware of the reciprocal position and orientation of the bodies wearing the terminals to include the effects of body shadowing. To reach this goal, three on-body antenna positions (head, belt, and wrist) and multiple human mobility scenarios have been investigated in the measurements. The characterization of these channels shows that not only channel gain is affected by mutual body orientation, but also short and long term fading are. Exploiting this characterization, we are able to derive a comprehensive channel model whose components and parameters directly depend on the mutual body position in terms of distance and orientation.