Diversity gain measurements for body-centric communication systems

In this paper, the implementation of diversity schemes for on-body communication systems at 2.4GHz, 5.8 GHz and 10GHz is investigated. In these systems both the transmitter and the receiver are placed on the body and at a distance that depends on the application in use. Monopole antennas on square ground planes are used as a transmitting element and two monopoles on a common ground plane as a two-branch receiver. Measurements have been carried out in an anechoic chamber in order to verify the scattering and fading effects of the body itself on the radio communication channel. The acquired data have been post-processed by resorting to different signal combining techniques, in order to evaluate the diversity performance. Measurement results in terms of diversity gain are shown for a number of typical on-body radio links, when different body postures are considered. Repeatability has been verified and proved for all considered radio links.