Energy Efficient Capacitive Body Channel Access Schemes for Internet of Bodies

• Main Author: AlAmoudi, Abeer
• Other Authors: Eltawil, Ahmed
• Language: en
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Internet of Bodies; Body Channel Communication; Orthogonal Multiple Access Schemes; Non- Orthogonal Multiple Access Schemes; Ultralow-power IoB network
• Online Access: AlAmoudi, A. A. (2021). Energy Efficient Capacitive Body Channel Access Schemes for Internet of Bodies. KAUST Research Repository. https://doi.org/10.25781/KAUST-0FW2U; http://hdl.handle.net/10754/670263

The Internet of Bodies (IoB) is a wireless network of on-body or in-body commu- nication formed by wearable, ingestible, injectable, and implantable smart devices. The vast majority of on-body communications, is typically required to be within <5 cm vicinity of the human body. The radiative nature of currently used RF devices leads to wasted energy that is radiated in unneeded off-body directions. Consequently, it degrades energy efficiency, introduces co-existence and interference problems, and imposes security threats on sensitive data. As an alternative, the capacitive body channel communication (BCC) couples the signal (between 10 kHz-100 MHZ) to the human body, which is more conductive than air. Hence, it provides lower loss, bet- ter privacy and confidentiality, and nJ/bit to pJ/bit energy efficiency. Accordingly, our work investigates orthogonal and non-orthogonal capacitive body channel access schemes for ultralow-power IoB networks with or without cooperation. We derive the closed-form optimal power allocation for uplink and downlink transmissions and the maximum number of IoB nodes satisfying a reliable and feasible network for non- cooperative schemes. The cooperative schemes necessitate joint optimization of both power and phase time allocations. We achieve this by using the Golden-Section search algorithm to minimize the power consumption in both phases.