ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the rigorous analysis of the effects of body tissues and specifically skin, fat and muscle tissues on biomedical systems where energy is propagated or coupled from a source to a receiver. Current literature shows that consideration of the presence of skin and tissue in the magnetic channel linking an inductive transmitter and receiver is often glossed over during system design and analysis. Probing of biological tissues and the behaviour of biological tissues in the presence of electromagnetic fields has been the subject of a significant number of publications and for various reasons. In the medical field, apart from the use of x-rays, two methods of probing biological tissues are prominent, either using electromagnetic propagation or inductive techniques. Body area networks mostly employ electromagnetic wave propagation with limiting consequences due to the nature of signal degradation in the human body channel. The human body is composed of tissues which behave as lossy dielectric materials.
