Characterization of 60 GHz shadowing by human bodies and simple phantoms

The 60 GHz band is very promising for high data rate (>;1 Gb/s) wireless systems operating at short ranges. However, due to the short wavelengths in this frequency band, the shadowing effects cuased by human bodies and furniture are severe and needs to be modeled properly. In this paper, we present an experimental, measurement-based characterization of the reflection and shadowing effects in the 60 GHz band caused by human bodies and various phantoms, in order to find simple phantoms suitable for use in human shadowing measurements. It is shown that a water-filled human phantom serves as a good choice for this purpose.