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Original scientific article

BIO INSPIRED RECONFIGURABLE ANTENNA ARRAYS FOR ULTRA-LOW POWER BODY AREA COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

By
Roohee Khan Orcid logo ,
Roohee Khan

Assistant Professor, Kalinga University , Naya Raipur, Chhattisgarh , India

Ashu Nayak Orcid logo
Ashu Nayak

Assistant Professor, Kalinga University , Naya Raipur, Chhattisgarh , India

Abstract

Bio-inspired reconfigurable antenna arrays may be one possible answer to the challenges of energy efficiency, capability, and stability in ultra-low-power Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs). In this paper, a bio-inspired reconfigurable architecture for antenna arrays is proposed, which can adaptively change radiation patterns and impedance properties to varying body-centric propagation environments. It is designed to work with wearable and implantable biomedical communications and, in the sub-GHz and ISM frequency bands, will support both applications. Extensive electromagnetic modeling and on-body experimental data are run across multiple user postures and mobility conditions. The findings indicate that the said antenna has shown a radiation efficiency of up to 18% and a link stability of up to 1.5 dB of gain variation, compared with conventional fixed-antenna designs under dynamic body conditions. Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) analysis shows it has decreased by about 22% and remains well below international safety limits. The adaptive reconfiguration scheme enhances communication reliability in non-line-of-sight and body-shadowed environments, improving the packet-delivery ratio by up to 25% at a complementary power penalty of less than 3%, allowing sustained ultra-low-power operation. The statistical results of the repeated-measures analysis of the mobility trials confirm that low-variance gain behavior (standard deviation < 1.2 dB) is the strength of the proposed bio-inspired control strategy. The proposed system-level solution achieves up to 20% improvement in energy efficiency, relative to packet-delivery success, compared with the current WBAN antenna solution in the presence of mobility-induced fading. These findings indicate that bio-inspired reconfigurable antenna arrays are scalable and robust for the next generation of WBANs, enabling reliable health monitoring, long-term implantable communications, and continuous wearable sensing in highly dynamic body-based contexts.

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Citation

This is an open access article distributed under the  Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (CC BY-NC) License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 

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