Channel dynamics in body area networks: Recent results and challenges

Recent results about body area radio channel dynamics are analyzed, considering on-body and body-to-body transmissions. Investigations are based on experimental data around 4 GHz. Regarding the on-body case, the dynamics of cross-channel correlation are measured and analyzed for stationary periodic and non-stationary motions, with a clear impact of the walking mode being observed. For body-to-body scenarios, measurements conducted in room-to-room environments show again some strong non-stationary behaviors. In both cases, Markov chain-based models are developed to represent transitions between fading states.