Differentially Fed Dual-Band Implantable Antenna For Biomedical Applications
Differentially Fed Dual-Band Implantable Antenna For Biomedical Applications
Differentially Fed Dual-Band Implantable Antenna For Biomedical Applications
• A novel differentially fed dual-band implantable antenna is proposed for the first time for a fully implantable
neuro-microsystem. The antenna operates at two center frequencies of 433.9 MHz and 542.4 MHz, which are
close to the 402–405 MHz medical implant communication services (MICS) band, to support sub-GHz
wideband communication for high-data rate implantable neural recording application. The size of the antenna
is 480.06 mm (27 mm x 14 mm x 1.27 mm). The simulated and measured bandwidths are 7.3% and 7.9% at
the first resonant frequency, 5.4% and 6.4% at the second resonant frequency. The specific absorption rate
(SAR) distribution induced by the implantable antenna inside a tissue-mimicking solution is evaluated. The
performance of the communication link between the implanted antenna and external half-wavelength dual-
band dipole is also examined.
• Index Terms—Communication link, differential feeding, dualband antennas, implanted antennas, link margin,
specific absorption rate (SAR).
INTRODUCTION
• IMPLANTABLE microsystems are gradually becoming the focus of research, in which the wireless
link acts as a vital role in the communications between the implants and the external devices.
• Biomedical telemetry permits the measurement of physiological signals at a distance, through
either wired or wireless communication technologies. Physiological signals are obtained by means
of appropriate transducers, post-processed, and eventually transmitted to exterior
monitoring/control equipment.
• In this work, we focus on the link intended for data transfer, i.e., the implanted antennas. Due to the
fact that the antennas are surrounded by the human tissue, we should also evaluate the specific
absorption rate (SAR) to measure the power absorbed by the tissue, the standards of which are
regulated by the IEEE .
ANTENNA DESIGN
Figure 1
Figure 2: GEOMETRY OF THE PROPOSED DUAL BAND
DIFFERENTIAL FED ANTENNA
STRUCTURE SIMULATED ON CST STUDIO
• In our differential feeding case, where the excitations of two ports are equal
in amplitude and 180 out of phase, the key parameter of the proposed
implantable antenna is the differential reflection coefficient or odd mode
reflection coefficient, which is: gamma(odd)= s11-s12
SIMULATION ENVIRONMENT
• Firstly we only set up one layer of tissue for simulation, and then test the
robustness of antenna in the three-layer tissue model.
• For initial evaluation, a simple cubic tissue box is assumed, with 10-mm
thickness of tissue above the antenna and 170-mm thickness of tissue below
the antenna. For the actual implantation where the consideration of both the
curvature of the human head and different implanting positions is needed,
only some tuning of the geometrical parameters of this proposed antenna is
necessary.
• The permittivity and conductivity of the tissue for the one layer tissue model
are from those of dry skin, and the dielectric properties of tissue vary with
frequency. Because our antenna is operating at two closely spaced
frequencies, we take the arithmetic average of two frequencies in which the
dielectric properties of simulation model are chosen. For instance, for the dry
skin used as the one layer model, a permittivity of 45.2 and a conductivity of
0.72 are assumed.
• For safety concerns caused by the implanted device on the human body, we
should evaluate SAR, a measure of power absorbed by the tissue. The
standards of SAR are regulated by IEEE. For C95.1-2005 standard, the 10-g
averaged SAR should not exceed 2 W/kg.
• An implantable antenna has been proposed which achieves both differential feeding and dual-
band operation for biomedical applications for the first time. The operating theory of the
proposed antenna is presented, and the robustness of the antenna in different tissue models and
different simulation environment is evaluated. Additionally, the SAR distribution is presented, and
the simulation and measurement results of the odd mode reflection coefficient are compared.
• The differential configuration of the antenna can facilitate its easy connection with differential
circuits, eliminating the additional loss introduced by baluns and the matching circuits. Also, the two
operating frequencies of the proposed antenna is quite close, therefore for single band
application we can also tune the geometrical parameters of this antenna to achieve bandwidth
enhancement. The proposed antenna is compact, easy to be fabricated and of low cost, which can
be used in modern wireless data communication link for biomedical implantable systems.
FUTURE SCOPE
• The given dual-band differential fed antenna can be used in Human head
models available in CST voxel family.
• This antenna can be designed as an ON-chip antenna using CMOS technology
which may help in high integration and high level of miniaturization.
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