Comparison of narrowband and ultra wideband subject-specific on-body radio channel studies for healthcare applications

Comparison between narrowband (2.45 GHz) and ultra wide-band (3-10 GHz) subject-specific on-body radio channel studies for healthcare application has been presented in this paper. Eight different real human test subjects of different shapes and sizes used in this study. Experimental investigation was made in the indoor environment. The path loss was modeled as a function of distance for 34 different receiver locations for propagation along the front part of the body. Results and analysis show that, due to the different sizes, heights and shapes of the test subjects, the path loss exponent value varies up to maximum of 21 % for the narrowband on-body case, whereas a maximum variation of path loss exponent value of 37.6 % is noticed for the ultra wideband (UWB) case. Variation of path loss for eight different narrowband and UWB on-body radio propagation channels of eight different human test subjects is also investigated.