Body Area Communications: Channel Modeling, Communication Systems, and EMC

Chapter 3

Electromagnetic Analysis Methods

The difficulty in measurement of an actual human body, especially inside a human body, means that numerical electromagnetic analysis methods play an important role in body area communications. Numerical electromagnetic analysis methods are especially helpful to clarify propagation characteristics and establish channel models in or on the body area. Rapid progress with computers has enabled high-level numerical simulation with the aid of high-resolution human body models. In this chapter, we will introduce three representative numerical methods for electromagnetic analysis: the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method; the finite element method (FEM); and a hybrid method combining the method of moments (MoM) and the FDTD method. After introducing the basis and algorithm for the numerical methods, human body models for use in numerical analysis will also be described.

3.1 Finite-Difference Time-Domain Method

3.1.1 Formulation

The FDTD method (Taflove and Hagness, 2000) is currently the most widely accepted numerical electromagnetic analysis method for human bodies.

The FDTD formulations are derived from the following Maxwell time-domain equations

(3.1)

where is the electric field, is the magnetic field, is the permittivity, is the permeability ...