Channel model on various frequency bands for wearable Body Area Network

Body Area Network (BAN) is considered as a promising technology in supporting medical and healthcare services by combining with various biological sensors. In this paper, we look at wearable BAN, which provides communication links among sensors on body surface. In order to design a BAN that manages biologic information with high efficiency and high reliability, the propagation characteristics of BAN must be thoroughly investigated. As a preliminary effort, we measured the propagation characteristics of BAN at frequency bands of 400 MHz, 600 MHz, 900 MHz, and 2400 MHz respectively. Channel models for wearable BAN based on the measurement results were derived. Our results show that the channel models can be described by using a path loss model for all investigated frequency bands.