Physical Layer Study of Human Body Communication for Wearable/Implantable Environment

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17H04929
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Communication/Network engineering
• Research Institution: Tokyo University of Science
• Principal Investigator: Muramatsu Dairoku 東京理科大学, 理工学部電気電子情報工学科, 助教 (80779140)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 人体通信 / ボディエリアネットワーク / ヒューマンインターフェース / ウェアラブル/インプランタブル / 数値電磁界解析 / ヘルスケア / 生体信号計測

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study is to provide design guidelines for high-performance and low-power-consumption devices for human body communication. In particular, assuming specific usage patterns such as communications including installed devices, experiments were conducted on real human subjects in addition to numerical human body models to evaluate the distribution of electromagnetic fields around the human body and transmission/reception characteristics. Through these investigations, we summarized the design method of antenna electrodes, which are important in the physical layer of the human body communication system. In the process, we showed that it is possible to detect biological signals by measuring the electromagnetic response from a living body using electrodes for human body communication, and established a foothold for the development of an application that integrates human body communication and biological signal measurement.

Free Research Field

生体電磁環境工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

人体通信や電磁的な生体信号計測は，メカニズムや具体的なシステム設計手法が不明確ゆえ，大きな期待が寄せられる反面いまだ実用化には至っていない．本研究はこの状況を打開するため，物理層の基本設計指針を確立するという他に類を見ない統合的な取り組みを行った．得られた伝送メカニズム等の基礎データや開発されたツールは，人体通信や血糖計測のみならず各種WBANシステムの設計，無線システムにおける生体影響や電磁曝露等の安全性評価，そして今後需要が高まるであろうディジタル医療分野にも大きく貢献すると考えられる．