Performance Analysis of WiMedia UWB System for Medical Applications with Human Blockage

Ultra-wide-band (UWB) is expected to enable highspeed short-range wireless connectivity of numerous devices in the consumer application space. It is also a very promising candidate technology for medical applications. However, a good understanding of the performance of the technology in the medical application environment is essential. In this paper, we present the results of the study on the effects of human body interfering with (blocking) the UWB radio signal, focusing on the performance of the WiMedia UWB technology for medical applications. The study includes channel measurements, modeling and performance evaluation using the channel models. The impact of human blockages on the wireless link is studied via system simulations for different UWB configurations, including the standard WiMedia UWB system with single receive (RX) antenna, (co-located) receive antenna selection system, and the (separately-located) device selection system. Link margin analysis is also performed to quantitatively evaluate the link robustness of different UWB setups against human blockages.