Influence of User Mobility on System Loss and Depolarization in a BAN Indoor Scenario

In this paper, an analysis of system loss and depolarization in Body Area Networks for Body-to-Infrastructure communications based on a measurement campaign in the 5.8 GHz band in an indoor environment is performed. Measurements were performed with an off-body antenna transmitting linearly polarized signals and dual-polarized receiving antennas carried by the user on the body. A Normal Distribution with a mean of 2.0 dB and a standard deviation of 4.3 dB is found to be the best fit for modelling cross-polarization discrimination. The average correlation between the signals received by the orthogonally polarized antennas is below 0.5, showing that polarization diversity can be used. A model for the average value of the standard deviation of the cross-polarization discrimination ratio as a function of the transmitted polarization, the mobility of users and the link dynamics, is presented, together with a detailed description of the methodology being used.