Transceiver for Human Body Communication Using Frequency Selective Digital Transmission

This paper presents a transceiver module for human body communications whereby a spread signal with a group of 64 Walsh codes is directly transferred through a human body at a chip rate of 32 Mcps. Frequency selective digital transmission moves the signal spectrum over 5 MHz without continuous frequency modulation and increases the immunity to induced interference by the processing gain. A simple receiver structure with no additional analog circuitry for the transmitter has been developed and has a sensitivity of 250 µVpp. The high sensitivity of the receiver makes it possible to communicate between mobile devices using a human body as the transmission medium. It enables half-duplex communication of 2 Mbps within an operating range of up to 170 cm between the ultra-mobile PCs held between fingertips of each hand with a packet error rate of lower than 10−6. The transceiver module consumes 59 mA with a 3.3 V power supply.