Norton Surface Waves in the Scope of Body Area Networks

• Published in: IEEE transactions on antennas and propagation Vol. 62; no. 5; pp. 2616 - 2623
• Main Authors: Grimm, Markus, Manteuffel, Dirk
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.05.2014; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Antennas; Applied sciences; Attenuation; Dipole antennas; Electric fields; EM theory; Exact sciences and technology; Guidelines; Mathematical analysis; Muscles; Networks; Norton surface wave; Propagation; Radiocommunications; Skin; Surface waves; Telecommunications; Telecommunications and information theory; Wave propagation; wireless body area networks; Dielectric strength; EM theory; Electric field; Body area network; Human body model; Wireless telecommunication; Surface wave; Wireless network; Norton surface wave; wireless body area networks; Antenna; Planar technology
• ISSN: 0018-926X; 1558-2221
• DOI: 10.1109/TAP.2014.2307347

This paper presents an evaluation on how Norton surface waves can be used to analytically model the on-body propagation in wireless body area networks. Based on a brief review of the Norton surface wave theory, the general problem as defined for terrestrial propagation by Sommerfeld, is unified taking into account the further extensions by Norton and Bannister which motivates its evaluation for on-body propagations. A discussion of Sommerfeld's numerical distance reveals useful properties to evaluate the capability of a certain configuration to excite Norton surface waves in specific on-body scenarios. Based thereon antenna design guidelines for on-body propagation links can be derived. All investigations are carried out for human muscle, skin, and fat tissues in the frequency range from 0.4 GHz to 60 GHz. A comparison of the simplified model consisting of a planar homogeneous ground to a realistic inhomogeneous human body model shows good results for the attenuation of the electric field strength along the on-body path.