#figure30#
Figure 1-1: Typical PAN Geometries
PAN, or Personal Area Network is a system for data transmission
through the human body. Each of the transmitter and receiver is
configured with two electrodes. One of these electrodes is in a
geometry which is more strongly capacitively coupled to the body than
to the ground. The other electrode is less strongly coupled to the
body and more so to absolute (room) ground. In all points of a PAN
transmission, capacitive coupling dominates. In experimental work,
typical transmission voltages were fives or tens of volts.
Two typical geometries for PAN are shown in Figure ~#pangeom#37>.
In <#38#>A<#38#>, the first receiver electrode is nearly in contact with the
bottom of the foot and the second electrode is nearly in contact with
the ground. This provides the desired symmetry breaking about as
ideally as possible for the human body. In <#39#>B<#39#>, the first
receiver electrode is in near contact with the body and the second
electrode is somewhat further from he body, and hence less well
coupled to the body, and with a slightly stronger ground coupling.
This configuration is less than ideal (as will be shown in more
mathematical rigor later), however is a usable arrangement. For both
configurations shown, the transmitter is beneath the foot, as for the
receiver in <#40#>A<#40#>.