Kommunikation genom att använda människokroppen som  överföringsmedium, med kapacitiv koppling mellan hud och sensor, har varit ett pågående forskningsområde för PAN (Personal Area Network) sedan Thomas Guthrie Zimmerman introducerade tekniken 1995. Anledningen till detta är att undersöka fördelar och användningsområden för en kommunikationsmetod som ej sänder ut RF-signaler och därmed minska risken för obehörig avlyssning. Denna rapport beskriver ett examensarbete som undersöker möjligheten till eliminering av USB- till UART-konverterare på Microchip BodyCom genom mjukvaru-USB-stack och kombinera denna med Body Coupled Communication funktionalitet i en gemensam mikrokontroller. Vidare studeras om programkoden i Body Coupled Communication sändare kan modifieras för att utöka funktionaliteten. Det var givet i förutsättningarna att mikrokontroller från Microchip skulle användas, vidare var lågt pris respektive låg strömförbrukning viktigt, särskilt för sändaren. Metoden för att uppnå detta har varit användning av Microchip BodyCom development kit tillsammans med Microchip USB low pin count development kit och Microchip USB firmwareframework. Resultatet blev att USB- till UART-omvandlare kunde integreras med Microchip BodyCom genom att använda mjukvaru-USB-stack och en modifierad programkod för BodyCom i en gemensam mikrokontroller. Endast fantasin sätter gränsen för vad Body Coupled Communication kan användas till. Det skulle t.ex. vara möjligt att utbyta elektroniska visitkort genom en handskakning eller öppna en låst dörr endast genom att ta i handtaget. / Communication using the human body as a transmission medium, the capacitive coupling between the skin and sensor, has been an active research area for PAN (Personal Area Network) since Thomas Guthrie Zimmerman introduced the technique in 1995. The reason for this is to examine the benefits and uses of a communication method that does not emit RF signals and thus reduce the risk of unauthorized interception. This report describes a thesis that examines the possibility of elimination of USB to UART converter on Microchip BodyCom through software USB-stack and combine this with Body Coupled Communication functionality in a single microcontroller. Furthermore, studies on if the application code in Body Coupled Communication transmitters can be modified to extend functionality. It was given in the conditions that microcontrollers from Microchip should be used, furthermore, low price and low power consumption were important, especially for the transmitter. The method for achieving this has been the use of Microchip BodyCom development kit with USB Microchip low pin count development kit and Microchip USB firmware framework. The result was that the USB- to UART-converter could be integrated with Microchip BodyCom, using software USB-stack and a modified program code for BodyCom in a single microcontroller. Only your imagination sets the limits for Body Coupled Communication can be used for. For example, it would be possible to exchange electronic business cards by a handshake or open a locked door only by using the handle.

This master's thesis is primarily focused on the design of an electronic access control system using the BodyCom technology. The first section describes the working principle of this technology and its influence on human body. The second section shows an application of this technology in construction options of the electronic access control system.

A wireless body network with sensors and actuators is a topical subject in current situation, because the healthcare services cannot meet peoples requirements for personal health-care. Such a network can be used to monitor the health status of e.g. elderly people and provide a drug delivery without external human interaction. In this project we will implement a prototype of a distributed system of sensors and actuator using the human body as a transmission line for communication purposes (Capacitive Body-coupled Communication), as a solution for the problem. Similar systems have been implemented earlier, using radio-based wireless communication which consumes more power and have critical security issues, compared to capacitive body-coupled communication. This document describes how the system is implemented with focus on robust gathering of sensor data from several sensors from a single node using capacitive body-coupled communication and an actuator control with user interaction.