Miniaturized Ss-Shaped CP Circular Patch Antenna Design for Implantable Medical Device Applications

Abstract

A small antenna is critical in wireless communication and monitoring of vital signs using data collected by implantable devices. Numerous studies address antenna miniaturization and reliability challenges while maintaining performance efficiency in this field. A reliable small-sized circularly polarized antenna of dimension (4.15² π × 1.28) mm³ developed for medical implants operating at the 1.4-GHz Wireless Medical Telemetry Service (WMTS) narrow band is presented in this work. The shorting pin, variable arc slots, and substrate and superstrate of high dielectric constant techniques were used. The proposed antenna underwent testing in a three-layer biological simulation environment that includes the skin, fat, and muscle. Subsequently, the antenna was fabricated, and measurements were performed by placing the antenna in beef biological tissues. The measurement results confirmed the simulated results. The antenna achieves an impedance bandwidth of 98 MHz (1.367~1.465 GHz, 7%). The effective axial ratio bandwidth (AR <3 dB) is 55.2 MHz (1.3668~1.422 GHz, 3.94%), which covers the CP operating frequency range. The simulation results attain a peak realized gain of −19.2 dBic. The communication link budget and the specific absorption rate (SAR) were analyzed. The results indicate that the radiation of the proposed antenna aligns with the safety limit of IEEE C95.1-1999 standards. The antenna exhibits excellent performance and reliability compared to other works operating within the 1.4-GHz WMTS band.