De-polarization of on-body channels and polarization diversity at 60 GHz

Measurements of on-body dynamic propagation channels have been performed at 60 GHz using dual-polarized scalar horn antennas. Comparison of the statistics of the measured signals showed that the choice of polarization (vertical or horizontal) does not affect the path losses significantly, and the relative polarization of the two antennas depends on their placement on the body. In volatile links, such as those from the wrist to other parts of the body, random movements equalize the differences between different polarization configurations. These depolarization effects can be exploited to improve link performance through the use of receive diversity with maximal ratio combining. More advanced multiple-input multiple-output diversity methods are found to produce only marginally better performance compared to receive maximal ratio combining.