On-Body Adhesive-Bandage-Like Antenna for Wireless Medical Telemetry Service

Abstract

This paper presents a novel planar, via-free, printed antenna for wireless medical telemetry service (WMTS). The antenna structure is simple and looks like an adhesive bandage, and can be placed on human tissue. Depending on the application, the antenna can be used as a standalone antenna when it is fed by a coaxial cable, or it can be integrated with a single-chip sensor, with the chip placed in the center. Antenna parameters, such as reflection coefficients, radiation patterns, radiation efficiency, and the specific absorption rate, were evaluated in various scenarios to validate the proposed design. The measured radiation efficiency of the proposed adhesive-bandage-like antenna was 89.5% in free space and 44.7% when mounted on tissue-equivalent phantom. The antenna also retained its broad side radiation characteristics when it was bent at 90 degrees. The proposed antenna is a favorable candidate for use in wireless body area networks (WBANs). This paper presents the detailed design considerations of the proposed antenna.