Intrabody Communication Methods – A Short Overview

Abstract

This paper is an introduction to underlying mechanisms and the current state of technologies in the field of intrabody communication (IBC). IBC technologies utilize the human body as a communication channel to achieve communication between different devices that can be positioned inside or on the surface of the body. Current developments in the field of mobile gadgets, smartwatches and medical devices make this field of particular interest due to very low energy expenditure, security, and ability to protect private data. Since there are multiple subfields in the field of IBC technologies, this paper will focus on summarizing the principles of work for galvanic coupling and capacitive coupling and compare the tradeoffs of using one approach over the other.