Body area networks at radio frequencies : creeping waves and antenna analysis

On-body communication technology development requires a better knowledge of antenna radiation and wave propagation along the body, in both near and far fields. Therefore, Green's functions associated with penetrable cylinders are briefly reviewed, considering frequencies at which the body is not much larger than the wavelength and with a particular attention given to the near fields. A unified approach based on current sheets is provided and an acceleration technique is proposed. This is validated with the help of an FDTD software, which also allows the analysis of non-canonical cross-sections. The properties of creeping waves launched by sources parallel and perpendicular to the body are studied, in particular from the point of view of their phase velocity, and a very simple fitting model is proposed. It is also explained how the Green function can be exploited to analyze antennas very efficiently with the help of an integral-equation approach