Body-Coupled Communication and Energy Harvesting Smart Textile System for Next-Generation Wearables

This article proposes a new platform for powering and communicating with next-generation wearables. The platform eliminates the need for bulky and short-lived batteries by using a smart textile embedded with an antenna array to harvest ambient radio frequency (RF) energy, particularly Wi-Fi signals. According to simulations, from 5 meter distance, the smart textile can harvest a maximum of ~46 µW of power using an 18.3 dBi antenna array receiver, when a 2.6 dBi Wi-Fi antenna emits 100 mW. The platform also leverages the human body as a medium for data transfer through Human Body Coupling (HBC) technology. This method offers significant advantages over traditional wireless communication, such as lower power consumption (∼10 pJ/b as comparedto 1 nJ/bit oftraditional wireless) and enhanced security due to reduced signal leakage in the electro-quasistatic (EQS) regime. The channel transfer function for HBC is better than -70dB at 100 kHz, which is sufficient to transmit 10 − 100kbps data with a bit error rate (BER) <10-4, and power consumption of ~1 µW.