Miniaturized Reconfigurable Wearable Antenna for Dynamic On-Body Wireless Communication

新兴的无线体域网络技术有望改变数百万人的医疗保健，这些人的日常生活受到心脏病、中风、癌症和糖尿病等慢性疾病的严重限制。微型传感器和无线通信技术的进步使可穿戴式身体传感器成为可能，这种传感器可以远程持续监测生理生命体征，并向医疗护理人员发送警报，以便在即将发生的紧急情况下进行干预。一个主要的障碍是，传感器的天线需要相对较大的电力，才能在日常生活中长时间可靠地传输数据。我们需要更高效、更优化的天线设计，这样传感器电池才能更小、更持久，从而使传感器更方便、更不显眼。为了促进有效的身体天线设计，本项目结合实验和计算机建模方法来研究和表征电磁波如何在移动的人体上和周围传播。从测量和仿真数据分析得出的见解指导了可重构可穿戴天线的设计，这些天线可促进高效的身体无线通信，实现连续的远程健康监测。该项目的目的是研究人体日常活动中的人体电磁波传播，以指导3d打印、可重构、可穿戴天线的设计，以实现不引人注目、节能高效的人体无线通信。本项目采用了测量和仿真两种方法：i)在不同的人体天线配置和不同的环境中，同时测量人体在日常活动中的三维运动和复杂的电磁传输特性；ii)在电磁仿真软件中建立了能够再现实验结果并预测波传播特性的三维建模框架。该方法的一个关键智力优点是将身体电磁特性与身体姿势和天线运动学联系起来。提出的工作的另一个关键的智力优势是设计和创造3d打印，电小，可重构，可穿戴的天线，将辐射功率耦合到主要的传播机制中。这些进步将改变人体通信技术的应用，使患者、公共安全官员、士兵和宇航员受益。

The emerging technology of wireless body-area networks promises to transform health care for millions of people whose daily lives are severely restricted by chronic conditions such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes. Advances in miniature sensors and wireless communications have opened the possibility for wearable, on-body sensors that remotely and continuously monitor physiological vital signs and transmit alerts to medical caregivers who can intervene in case of impending emergencies. A major hurdle is that the sensors' antennas require relatively large amounts of electrical power to reliably transmit data over extended periods of time during regular daily life. More efficient, optimized antenna designs are needed so that sensor batteries can be small and long-lasting, thereby allowing sensors to be convenient and unobtrusive. To facilitate efficient on-body antenna designs, this project combines experimental and computer modeling methods to study and characterize how electromagnetic waves transmit over and around the moving human body. Insights from analysis of measurement and simulation data guide the design of reconfigurable, wearable antennas that facilitate efficient, on-body wireless communication for continuous, remote health monitoring. The aim of this project is to study on-body electromagnetic wave propagations during human daily activities in order to guide the design of 3-D printed, reconfigurable, wearable antennas for unobtrusive, power-efficient, on-body wireless communications. Both measurement and simulation approaches are utilized in this project: i) three-dimensional body motions and complex electromagnetic transmission characteristics are simultaneously measured during common human activities for various on-body antenna configurations and in various environments; and ii) a three-dimensional modeling framework that reproduces experimental results and predicts wave transmission characteristics is established in electromagnetic simulation software. One key intellectual merit of this approach is relating on-body electromagnetic characteristics to body postures and antenna kinematics. Another key intellectual merit of the proposed work is designing and creating 3-D printed, electrically-small, reconfigurable, wearable antennas that couple radiation power into the dominant propagation mechanism. These advances will transform life-saving on-body communication technologies with applications that benefit patients, public safety officers, soldiers, and astronauts.