Correlation analysis in on-body communications

When researching on possible channel diversity techniques for Body Area Networks (BANs), the correlation among on-body links should be considered. This problem is studied for a given BAN, at 2.45 GHz, considering antennas at different distances from the body, in a close perspective to real scenarios. Based on full wave simulations of a voxel model, four classes of on-body links are identified, based on the position of RX antennas. Antennas with symmetry to the TX have correlation values around 0.9 for LOS, while for QLOS links correlation ranges in [0.6, 0.9]. NLOS connections fit into a Normal Distribution with the distance to the body, with a mean correlation value of 0.7. The study is oriented towards a “smart” antenna selection for a cooperative MIMO algorithm for on-body systems, e.g., the arms and the back nodes are the best candidates to place the RXs of an on-body MIMO system.