Cooperative relay in Near Field Magnetic Induction: A new technology for embedded medical communication systems

Radio Frequency based communication systems highly benefit from the cooperative relaying to achieve higher data rate and more coverage range with lower cost and complexity. However this concept has not been fairly examined to be used in the Magnetic Induction Communication systems, where the path loss effect is very critical and the range extension is highly required. Recently Magneto Inductive waveguide method is proposed as a relaying method in the Near Field Magnetic Induction Communications (NFMIC) to extend the communication range. This paper studies this model and discusses different cooperative relaying configuration. Different relaying configurations have been tested in the laboratory and the best configuration is analysed theoretically. Based on the experimental results, a new relaying method is proposed. This model suggests that if the relaying nodes are laid on the same vertical axis the received power at the final receiver is higher than the existing conventional waveguide model. Therefore this model is seen as a promising method to provide the range extension in the NFMIC systems.