LTE Communications and Networks

11Human Body Effects on LTE Femtocell Antennas

Masood Ur Rehman¹ and Qammer Hussain Abbasi²

¹ School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, University of Bedfordshire, Luton, UK

² School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

The development of portable devices including smart phones, smart watches, wireless health monitors, wireless sensor systems, Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs) and laptops has brought a revolution in the field of wireless communications. This rapid growth of research and development has been promoted by the wider approach, mobility and ease of use provided by these devices. It has necessitated the advances of several portable and wearable technologies within LTE femtocells utilizing Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPAN) and Wireless Body Area Networks (WBAN). Since the human body is an integral part of the WPAN/WBAN applications, interaction between such wearable devices and the human body is of paramount importance to establish a reliable communication link.

This chapter presents an investigative study to characterize the electromagnetic interaction between body‐mounted LTE antennas and the human body. Various factors affecting this communication link including on‐body antenna placement, antenna and body separation and body posture are considered. Thorough numerical modelling, supported by measurements, has been carried out to demonstrate the importance of numerical modelling and explore these body proximity effects.

11.1 Interaction ...