Compact triple-band implantable antenna for multitasking medical devices

Abstract This paper presents a compact implantable antenna’s design, fabrication, and measurement for biotelemetry applications. The proposed design with the size of 255 mm3 provides a triple-band operation that covers all the Medical Implant Communication Service (MICS: 402 MHz), Medical Device Radiocommunications Service (MedRadio: 405 MHz), and Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM: 433, 915 and 2450 MHz) bands simultaneously. The compact structure with triple- band performance is essentially achieved by using a spiral-like radiator loaded with meandered and internal gear-shaped elements excited by a vertical coaxial probe feed. Also, the slots-loaded partial ground plane is utilized to improve impedance matching at the desired frequency bands. The design and analysis of the antenna were carried out using the Ansoft HFSS software in a homogenous skin model and the CST Microwave Studio in a realistic human model. The proposed antenna was fabricated to validate the simulated results, and characteristics of its return loss and radiation patterns were measured in minced pork meat. Moreover, realized gains and specific absorption rate (SAR) values of the antenna were numerically computed using the simulators. Based on the simulated and measured results, the proposed antenna performance was found to be comparable to the limited number of multiband implantable antenna designs reported in the recent literature.