A Physics-Based Digital Human Twin for Galvanic-Coupling Wearable Communication Links
This provides a framework for optimizing bandwidth, interface design, and transceiver complexity in wearable galvanic coupling systems, which is incremental but domain-specific.
This paper systematically characterized wearable galvanic coupling communication channels by developing a physics-based digital human twin that maps anatomical properties to transfer functions, confirming electro-quasistatic, weakly dispersive behavior over 10 kHz-1 MHz and showing that interface conditioning (gel and foam) significantly improves amplitude and phase stability.
This paper presents a systematic characterization of wearable galvanic coupling (GC) channels under narrowband and wideband operation. A physics-consistent digital human twin maps anatomical properties, propagation geometry, and electrode-skin interfaces into complex transfer functions directly usable for communication analysis. Attenuation, phase delay, and group delay are evaluated for longitudinal and radial configurations, and dispersion-induced variability is quantified through attenuation ripple and delay standard deviation metrics versus bandwidth. Results confirm electro-quasistatic, weakly dispersive behavior over 10 kHz-1 MHz. Attenuation is primarily geometry-driven, whereas amplitude ripple and delay variability increase with bandwidth, tightening equalization and synchronization constraints. Interface conditioning (gel and foam) significantly improves amplitude and phase stability, while propagation geometry governs link budget and baseline delay. Overall, the framework quantitatively links tissue electromagnetics to waveform distortion, enabling informed trade-offs among bandwidth, interface design, and transceiver complexity in wearable GC systems.