Depolarization in On-Body Communication Channels at 2.45 GHz

This paper describes an investigation into the polarization behavior of on-body wireless communication channels at 2.45 GHz. The effect of the polarization of an antenna on the channel path gain has been studied and the channel cross-polarization discrimination (XPD) has been quantified, using both simulation and measurement. In simulation, short dipole antennas, which significantly reduce the simulation time, were used to investigate path gain behavior in different channels for vertically and horizontally polarized antennas. Measurements were taken in an indoor environment using a novel dual-polarized antenna, producing normal and parallel polarizations to the body surface. The measured signals were also analyzed to extract the Rician K-factor which was defined as the ratio of the power in the line of sight (LOS) signal to the scattered power for various polarization combinations.