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A review on antennas for biomedical implants used for IoT based health care

Article  in  Sensor Review · August 2019

DOI: 10.1108/SR-01-2019-0020

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 A review on antennas for biomedical implants
used for IoT based health care
Kasturi Sudam Patil and Elizabeth Rufus
School of Electronics Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, India

Abstract
Purpose – The paper aims to focus on implantable antenna sensors used for biomedical applications. Communication in implantable medical
devices (IMDs) is beneficial for continuous monitoring of health. The ability to communicate with exterior equipment is an important aspect of IMD.
Thus, the design of an implantable antenna for integration into IMD is important.
Design/methodology/approach – In this review, recent developments in IMDs, three types of antenna sensors, which are recommended by researchers
for biomedical implants are considered. In this review, design requirements, different types of their antenna, parameters and characteristics in medical
implants communication system (MICS) and industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) bands are summarized here. Also, overall current progress in
development of implantable antenna sensor, its challenges and the importance of human body characteristics are described.
Findings – This article give information about the requirements of implantable antenna sensor designs, types of antennas useful to design
implantable devices and their characteristics in MICS and ISM bands. Recent advancement in implantable devices has led to an improvement in
human health.
Originality/value – The paper provides useful information on implantable antennas design for biomedical application. The designing of such
antennas needs to meet requirements such as compact size, patients’ safety, communication ability and biocompatibility.
Keywords Capsule antenna, Circular antenna, Dual band antenna, Implantable antenna sensor, Implantable medical devices (IMDs),
MICS and ISM bands, Microwave sensors
Paper type Literature review

1. Introduction bandwidth and sufficient radiation efficiency and has to address

In recent years, microwave sensors have played an important
role in IMD; the first implantable electronic biomedical device
was the cardiac pacemaker (Greatbatch and Homes, 1991).
Now, several defibrillators and drug delivery systems are being
widely used. Considering the population growth and the public
consciousness about health, the IMDs have become a growing
technology. It is used for monitoring the human body
temperature (Scanlon et al., 1997), implantable defibrillators,
pacemakers (Wessels, 2002) continuous glucose monitoring
(Yilmaz et al., 2008), heart failure detection (Chow et al.,
2009), etc. The aim of the IMD is to continuously monitor the
various activities inside the human body and send information
to a receiver outside the body (Soontornpipit et al., 2004).
Therefore, IMDs require microwave sensors for the application
of wireless communication from inside the host (human body)
to the device outside (Kim and Rahmat-Samii, 2004). These
microwave sensors are implantable antennas; IMDs with a
miniature antenna are called a radio frequency (RF)-linked
IMD. The design of such sensors has lots of challenges because
of the lossy tissues in the human body (Soontornpipit et al.,
2005; Gosalia et al., 2005). An implantable antenna has certain
features/characteristics such as small size, wide operating
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patient safety (Kim et al., 2010; Kaur et al., 2015; Gabriel et al.,
1996). Several research works in the direction of designing
antenna for medical implants have been carried out in the
ISM band for biometry. Recently, MICS has specified
402-405 MHz for this purpose to minimize interference with
other services (Aleef et al., 2017; Herth et al., 2017; Asili, 2015;
Asili et al., 2012; Jung, 2016; Huang et al., 2013; Scarpello,
2011; Asili, 2015; Emami-Nejad and Mir, 2017; Yilmaz et al.,
2008; Yang et al., 2016; Bahrami et al., 2015). This means that
the wavelength is nearly 74 cm, which has a direct relation
with the antenna dimensions. This indicates a need to
miniaturize the microwave antenna which conforms to the
human body. Rules and regulations related to all frequency
bands used to design implantable antennas are given [CEPT/
ERC 70-03, (1997); http://itu.int/home; Annex 12 (1997)].
A review of several works with regard to implantable
antennas which have been carried out in this field during the
past few years have been read and summarized in this paper.
First, the requirements of the miniaturized implantable
antenna have been discussed and second, the review of the
methods for fulfilling the requirements, based on the literature
survey, are consolidated.
2. Design requirements of implantable antenna
The antennas used inside the body need to satisfy many
conditions unlike traditional antennas which operate in free
space. The implantable antenna should meet the requirements

Sensor Review
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 0260-2288] Received 24 January 2019
[DOI 10.1108/SR-01-2019-0020] Accepted 15 May 2019
 Antennas for biomedical implants
Kasturi Sudam Patil and Elizabeth Rufus
of efficiency and patient’s comfort. So, these antennas must
have sufficient gain and high bandwidth. It is also preferred to
have a multiband operation to reduce power conservation.
Many antennas with a single feed have been suggested in
literature, which offers low efficiency, as they suffer from the
loss of baluns, but the antennas with dual feeds have the
advantages of common mode rejection, negligible material
coupling effect, negligible noise and superior linearity.
 Permittivity of dielectric substrate and superstrate is very
important because this helps to minimize the antenna
dimensions. The relation between permittivity and
dimension of the antenna is inverse. Thus, high
permittivity will shorten the wavelength and hence the
antenna dimensions.
 Planar structure is preferred for implantable antenna, as it
is conformal to the surface of the body. The microstrip
antennas are planar structures which have the
disadvantage of having a narrow bandwidth (BW) and this
poses a challenge to the design of implantable antennas.
 The length of current path is also important which can be
done by incorporating slots in the patch. Stacking is one
way to increase the length of the current path.
 Impedance matching is yet another important aspect. The
imaginary part of impedance can be offset by using
appropriate capacitance or inductive loading at the design
frequency band. In addition to loading, the split-ring
resonator (SRR) can be incorporated.
 Specific absorption rate (SAR) has to be limited to
preserve patient safety, based on the IEEE regulations and
guidelines.
 Biocompatibility is an important factor to be considered.
The designed antenna has to be coated with
biocompatible materials such as macor, alumina and
polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as mentioned in literature.
This may have an effect on the antenna performance,
which needs to be studied.
 In the present status, implantable antenna works as a
transmitter in most of the cases. Ensuring far field
communication is a requirement of design of Implantable
antennas.
3. Survey of dual band antennas
This section enumerates few of the dual band antennas which
have been proposed by researchers for biomedical applications.
The research on implantable antenna for medical application is
in the MICS, medical device radio communication services
(MedRadio) and ISM bands of operation (Karacolak et al.,
2008; Sánchez-Fernández et al., 2010; Duan et al., 2012; Liu
et al., 2012; Xu et al., 2012; Kiourti et al., 2014; Xu and Guo,
2014; Duan et al., 2014; Liu et al., 2016; Lei and Guo, 2014;
Cho and Yoo, 2016; Liu et al., 2014; Dhun and Xu, 2017;
Akbarpour1 and Chamaani1, 2017; Blauert and Kiourti,
2018). In the table, the dual-band antenna fabricated by
different researchers is summarized. It also describes the
antenna type, antenna parameters and percentage bandwidth.
« r indicates dielectric constant, tand is tangent loss and h is the
thickness of the respective substrate.
Table I provides information about dual band antennas.
Considering previous research work, for glucose monitoring
Sensor Review
hypodermic biosensor biosensors are connected to RF
transmitter outside the human body. A drawback of this system
is the replacement of the glucose sensor after every two-three
days, bulky RF unit, frequent battery replacement of RF unit,
long response time required for sensor, etc. Karacolak et al.
(2008) developed a system which monitors glucose levels in the
human body continuously. Hence, it improved the quality of
lives of patients suffering from diabetes. For antenna
simulation, particle swarm optimization algorithm and a
combined finite element-boundary integral technique is used.
In (Sánchez-Fernández et al., 2010) designed antenna, which
consisted of multilayer configuration and radiating element and
feedline, was situated at a different level. Hence, size reduction
occurs because of an independent line that feeds radiating
elements by electromagnetic coupling. Duan et al. (2012)
proposed differential feed dual band antenna which is easily
connects with differential circuitries, and eliminates loss
occuring in it because of matching circuit and balun this kind
of antenna is used in application like neuro-microsystem. Liu
et al. (2012) adopted a small dual-band implantable antenna
for biomedical application. Xu et al. (2012) designed a dual-
band planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) by adding an open-end
slot in a ground plane which is helpful to enhance the BW for
telemetry communication . Kiourti et al. (2014) proposed an
on-body repeater. It receives signals from the IMD and
retransmits it to the control device. The goal of a repeater is to
extend the telemetry range of the IMD by receiving weak
signals from IMD and retransmitting it to an exterior device. In
case of high frequency, ISM band permits for small, designed
and efficient antennas, which are suitable for on-body usage.
The advantage of this configuration is it provides patient’s
safety against electromagnetic field (EM), eliminates EM
interference and helps increase lifetime of IMD. Xu and Guo
(2014) developed miniaturized dual band antenna for
implantable wireless communication. Size reduction of
antenna and dual band antenna operation is achieved by
adapting an off-centre feeding dipole and bending the spiral
dipole and printing it on to sides of substrate, respectively.
Impedance matching is an important task and with help of
inductive loop, it is achieved in this paper, for both upper and
lower bands (Xu and Guo, 2014). Duan et al. (2014) proposed
an antenna with dual band capacity at MICS and ISM bands.
The proposed system consists of two modes, the sleep and
wake-up modes. When data transmission is required in MICS,
a wake-up signal via ISM band can be sent to the implantable
device to wake up the implantable system in a normal
condition, when the implant is in a sleep mode. This type of
antenna, connected with transmitter with differential output,
also reduces the loss produced by matching circuit and balun
(Duan et al., 2014). Liu et al. (2016) developed differential feed
dual band antenna, and it is used for near-field biotelemetry
application. Shorting pin and symmetric meandered strip are
techniques used for differential feed antenna to integrate into
differential RF front-end without balun and matching circuit.
Lei and Guo (2014) designed differentially fed dual band
implantable antenna. To achieve size reduction of this antenna,
shorting strip is implemented (Lei and Guo, 2014). Cho
achieved large-size reduction of implantable antenna by
shorting pin and open-end slot on a ground plane, and it is used
for wireless biotelemetry (Cho and Yoo, 2016). Dhun and Xu
 Antennas for biomedical implants
Kasturi Sudam Patil and Elizabeth Rufus
Table I Dual band antenna
Ref. No.
(Karacolak et al., 2008)
(Sánchez-Fernández
et al., 2010)
(Duan et al., 2012)
(Liu et al., 2012)
(Xu et al., 2012)
(Kiourti et al., 2014)
(Xu and Guo, 2014)
(Duan et al., 2014)
(Liu et al., 2016)
(Lei and Guo, 2014)
(Cho and Yoo, 2016)
(Liu et al., 2014)
(dhun and Xu, 2017)
(Akbarpour1 and
Chamaani1, 2017)
(Blauert and Kiourti,
2018)
(2017) proposed an antenna structure which consists of two
identical orthogonal strips with each one of them connected
with one conformal L-strip (Dhun and Xu, 2017). Akbarpour1
and Chamaani1 (2017) designed the dual-band electrically
Sensor Review
Antenna type Antenna parameters (%) Bandwidth
Meandered/serpentine patch antenna Size = 1265.6 mm 3
35.3% at MICS band
Substrate-Rogers RO3210 7.1% at ISM band
« r = 10.2 , tand = 0.003, h = 0.635 mm
Strip patch antenna Size = 1375.4 mm3 Very narrow band width
substrate-ARLON 1000
« r = 10.2, tand = not specified, h = 1.27 mm
Differentially fed spiral antenna Size = 480.6 mm3 7.3% at 433.9 MHz
Substrate-Rogers 6010 5.4% at 542.4 MHz
« r =10.2, tand = 0.0023, h = 0.635 mm
Spiral microstrip patch antenna and planar Size = 691.5 mm3 13% at MICS band
inverted antenna Substrate-Roger 3010 4.4% at ISM band
« r = 10.2, tand = 0.0023, h = 1.37 mm
P shaped antenna with two meander strips Size = 468.1 mm3 52.6% at 356 MHz to
Substrate-Rogers 3010 610 MHz
« r = 10.2, tand = 0.0035, h = 0.635 mm 4.4% at 2.42 to 2.53 GHz
Triangular patch antennas Antenna 1: Size = 399 mm3 20.2% at MedRadio
Substrate-Rogers RO 3210 band
« r = 10.2, tand = 0.003, h = 0.635 mm 20.1% at ISM band
Antenna 2: Size = 6720 mm3
Substrate FR4
« r = 4.4, tand = 0.02, h = 1.6mm
Spiral dipole antenna Size= 67.8 mm3 47.5% at MICS band
Substrate-Rogers 3010 31.6% at ISM band
« r = 10.2, tand = 0.035, h = 0.635 mm
PIFA antenna Size= 179.0 mm3 49.5% at 321 MHz to
Substrate-Rogers RO3010 532 MHz
« r = 10.2, tand = 0.0035, h = 10.2 mm 24.1% at 2.15 GHz to
2.74GHz
Symmetric meandered strip antenna Size = 642.6 mm3 7.4% at 389 MHz to
Substrate-Rogers 3010 419 MHz
« r = 10.2, tand = 0.0023, h = 0.635 mm 6.6% at 2395 MHz to
2563 MHz
Differentially fed meandered and L-shaped Size = 308.6 mm3 7.9% at 403.5 MHz
antenna Substrate-Rogers 3010 6.1% at 2.44 GHz
« r = 10.2, tand = 0.0035, h = 0.635 mm
Symmetric PIFA antenna Size = 31.5 mm3 21.8% at MICS Band
Substrate-Rogers 6010 8.6% at ISM Band
« r = 10.2, tand = 0.0035, h = 0.25 mm
Differentially fed symmetric P shaped antenna Size = 642.62 mm3 7.4% at 389 to 419 MHz
Substrate-Rogers 3010 6.6% at 2395 to
« r =10.2, tand = 0.0023, h = 0.635 mm 2363 MHz
Conformal L-striped antenna Size =76.2mm3 16.2% at 1.4 GHz
Substrate - Rogers 3010 34.8% at 2.45 GHz
« r = 10.2, tand = 0.0035, h = 0.635 mm
PIFA antenna Size = 2788.5 mm3 5.9% at MICS band
Substrate FR4 and RO 4003 1.2% at ISM band
« r = 4 and 3.37, respectively, h = 1.6 mm and
0.5mm, respectively
E-shaped patch antenna Size = 91.44 mm3 Not specified
Substrate-Rogers 3010
« r = 10.2, tand = 0.0035, h = 0.635 mm
coupled loop antenna, and with the help of lumped capacitors,
miniaturization is achieved. Blauert and Kiourti (2018)
proposed an E-shaped patch antenna; coupling slots line the
microstrip feed is useful for adequate matching between
 Antennas for biomedical implants
Kasturi Sudam Patil and Elizabeth Rufus
microstrip feed and the interior patch. It presents finite element
simulation of the reflection coefficient with the help of a genetic
algorithm (Blauert and Kiourti, 2018).
4. Survey of circular polarized antennas
For wireless applications, reduction in multipath and low bit-
error rates are designed and can be achieved by circular
polarization. Also, implantable antenna should maintain a fixed
orientation towards the receiver. But because of the posture
movement and common human tissue activity, it is difficult. To
eliminate these issues, circular polarized (CP) antennas would
be the best solution. It has an inherent immunity to time-
varying orientation of the transmitter and the receiver. Thus, it
offers better mobility, reduction of multipath, improvement of
lower bit-error rates and link stability (Liu et al., 2014; Liu
et al., 2014; Xu et al., 2015; Li et al., 2016; Liu et al., 2017;
Zhang et al., 2017; Liu et al., 2018). In Table II CP antennas,
its parameters and percentage BW are given.
Liu et al. (2014) developed capacitive-loaded, CP microstrip
patch antenna. In this proposed antenna, capacitive loading is
helpful to achieve better impedance and capacitive coupling
used for effective size reduction (Liu et al., 2014). Guo et al.
proposed a multilayer axial-mode helical antenna; it is used for
wireless capsule endoscope applications. This antenna is
composited in three open loops at different layers, connected
with the help of holes. It forms an axial-mode helical structure
to generate traveling wave radiation. In this process, high
relative dielectric constant is used to miniaturize the antenna
size. This high data rate ingestible capsule endoscope system
(Liu et al., 2014). Xu et al. (2015) used the concept of slow
wave by loading the patches. The radiated loop antenna is used
to achieve miniaturization. An implantable antenna is helpful
for communication with the equipment outside the human
body. Hence, patients can be monitored remotely without
Table II CP antennas
Ref. No. Antenna type
(Liu et al., 2014) Single-fed microstrip patch antenna (capacitive
loading)
(Liu et al., 2014) Circular patch antenna (capacitive loading)
(Xu et al., 2015) Square loop (LC loading)
(Li et al., 2016) Single fed patch antenna
(Liu et al., 2017) Conventional square patch and C-shaped patch
antenna
(Zhang et al., 2017) Square patch antenna
(Liu et al., 2018) Square patch meandered antenna
Sensor Review
direct contact (Xu et al., 2015). Li et al. (2016) designed
broadband and CP implantable antenna for biomedical
telemetry. A cross-shaped slot with unequal-length arms is
inserted in the ground plane of an antenna. Hence, the
proposed antenna improves impedance BW and axial-ratio BW
without any backward radiation (Li et al., 2016). Further Liu
et al., developed a single feed, wide beam-width CP
implantable antenna, its application is real-time glucose
monitoring. Four C-shaped slots and complementary split-ring
resonator (CSRR), loading the radiation patch, are helpful for
size reduction of the antenna (Liu et al., 2017). Zhang et al.
(2017) achieved miniaturization by loading stub and
meandering slots for designing an antenna structure; this
method achieved great size reduction of antenna. Liu et al.
(2018) developed CP antenna used for far-field wireless power
transmission. For designing a compact CP antenna, various
techniques are used, such as stub loading and capacitive
coupling among the stub (Liu et al., 2018).
5. Survey of capsule antennas
Implanting a medical devices inside the human body for
diagnosis process is recent advances in micro-electrochemical
system. Swallowable electronic radio-telemetry capsule was
firstly developed in 1957. It is used to measure pressure and
temperature (Mackay and Jacobson, 1957). It can transmit
detailed information in real-time, grow heat stroke among the
athletes, while transmitting information to the receiver it
simultaneously monitoring body temperature (Visser et al.,
2007). The approximate size of the capsule is 11  26 mm and
the antennas are an integral part. Generally, the orientation of
the capsule is random. But, the challenges are the
establishment of a continuous robust communication link for
biomedical telemetry and developing a stable and secure
communication link for capsule devices. Various antenna
Antenna parameters (%) Bandwidth
Size = 127 mm 3
7.74% at 2.36 GHz to
Substrate-Rogers 3010 2.55 GHz
« r = 10.2, tand = 0.003, h = 0.635 mm
Size = 361.89 mm3 26% at 2.4 GHz to 2.48 GHz
Substrate-Roger RO3010
« r = 10.2, tand = 0.0022, h = 0.635 mm
Size = 214.6 mm3 29.4% at 709 MHz to 954 MHz
Substrate - Rogers 3010 27.8% at 737 MHz to 975 MHz
« r = 10.2, tand = 0.0035, h = 0.635 mm
Size = 127mm3 14.03% at 2.32 GHz to 2.67
Substrate-Rogers 3010 GHz
« r = 10.2, tand = 0.003, h = not specified
Size = 91.75 mm3 13% at 2.31 GHz to 2.63 GHz
Substrate-Rogers 3210
« r =10.2, tand = 0.003, h = 0.635 mm
Size = 285.75 mm3 10.6% at 865 MHz to 962 MHz
Substrate-Rogers 3010
« r = 10.2, tand = 0.0035, h = 0.635 mm
Size = 153.67 mm3 17% at 828 MHz to 982 MHz
Substrate-Roger 3010
« r = 10.2, tand = Not specified, h = 0.635 mm
 Antennas for biomedical implants Sensor Review
Kasturi Sudam Patil and Elizabeth Rufus

Table III Capsule antenna

Ref. No. Antenna type Frequency of operation Antenna parameters Gain
(Izdebski et al., 2009) Multilayer spiral meandered 1.4 GHz Size = 286 mm 2
–26dB
dipole antenna Substrate-Polyethylene « r = 2.2,
tand = Not specified, h = 0.127 mm
(Merli et al., 2011) Multilayer helical antenna 401-406 MHz Size-321 mm2 –28.8 dB
2.4-2.5 GHz Substrate – Roger TMM10 (alumina), copper –18.5 dB
metallization, PEEK (Polyetheretherketones)
« r of copper = 9.2, tand = 0.0022, h = 35 m m
« r of PEEK = 3.2, tand = 0.01
(Mahe et al., 2012) Microstrip and meandered 434 MHz Size = 119 mm2 –33dB
antenna Substrate FR4
« r = 4.4, tand = 0.0035, h = 1.58 mm
(Psathas et al., 2013) Microstrip antenna 402 MHz Size = 240 mm2 –29.64 dB
Substrate-Rogers RT/Duroid 5880,
« r = 2.2, tand = Not specified, h = 0.127 mm
(Liu et al., 2014) CSRRantenna 2.45 GHz Size = 286 mm2 –32dB
Substrate-Rogers 3010
« r = 10.2, tand = 0.0022, h = 0.635 mm
(Alrawashdeh et al., Asymmetric dipole antenna 401-406 MHz, 433.1-434.8 MHz, Size = 75 mm2 –25dB
2015) 868-868.5 MHz, 902.8-928 MHz Substrate-Polymide
and 2.45 GHz « r = Not specified, tand = Not specified
h = 0.0254 mm
(Xu et al., 2015) Asymmetric dipole fed 402 MHz Size = 264 mm2 –37dB
Substrate-Rogers 3010
« r = 10.2, tand = 0.0035 , h = 0.635 mm
(Nikolayev et al., Microstrip antenna 434 MHz Size = 119 mm2 –33.4dB
2017) It consists three substrates
1. Rogers ULTRALAM 3850 HT,
« r = 2.9, tand = 0.002, h= 9 m m
2. Rogers XT/Duroid
« r = 3.23 tand = 0.0035, h= Not specified
3. DuPont Pyralux AP (polymide)
« r = 3.4 , tand = 0.002, h= Not specified
(Faerber et al., 2018) Multilayer helical with 433 MHz Size = 300 mm2 –23dB
meandered shape antenna Substrate-Not specified
« r = Not specified , tand = Not specified
Thickness of substrate = Not specified

designs have been designed and developed in the literature for
capsule antenna, which includes multilayer spiral, multilayer
helical, dipole antennas and CSRR. Antenna performance can
be measured with the help of matching radiation patterns, link
budgeting and characterizing the wireless medical telemetry
services (WMTS). The WMTS and ISM bands are used for
performance evaluation (Rajagopalan, 2012).
Table III lists a few of the antenna types, their operating
frequency and the capsule antenna. The motivation behind
designing such antenna is improving transmission range of
antenna inside a human body. But, there are difficulties such as
low radiation efficiency, strong coupling to lossy, dispersive
biological tissue and antenna impedance detuning. Capsule
antenna also considered for animal biotelemetry (Nikolayev
et al., 2017).
Izdebski et al. (2009) investigate the conformal antenna for
the ingestible biotelemetric capsule system. This system has the
ability to provide real-time biological information from the
human body with the help of the RF link. CP receiver antenna
designed with orthogonal dipoles provide polarization diversity
and reduced size, to fit into personal digital assignment
(Izdebski et al., 2009). Rajagopalan (2012) compared inverted
conical helical antenna and conformal meandered offset dipole
antenna CMODA and characterized their performance
evaluation. The author developed a link budget and established
reliable communication link for indoor communication for
biotelemetry applications (Rajagopalan, 2012). Merli et al.
(2011) discussed design procedure, realization and
measurement of conformal antenna, which are used for
implantable telemetry applications. Mahe et al. (2012)
designed a flexible, compact antenna using various
miniaturization techniques. Feasibility of these kind of
antennas are dependent on the good quality link from pill
embedding conformal antenna to a receiver (Mahe et al.,
2012). Psathas et al. (2013) proposed an antenna type for
ingestible capsule endoscopy in the Medical
 Antennas for biomedical implants
Kasturi Sudam Patil and Elizabeth Rufus
Radiocommunication (MedRadio) band. The antenna consists
of a microstrip meandered structure with a shorting pin which
is used as size reduction technique and printed on flexible
substrate material allowing its conformance to the shape of the
capsule (Psathas et al., 2013). Liu et al. (2014) designed a
multilayer axial-mode helical antenna which is used for
Wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) application. The proposed
antenna is a configuration of three open–loops, at various
layers, connected with the help of holes to create an axial-mode
helical structure, to generate traveling wave radiation (Liu et al.,
2014). Alrawashdeh et al. (2015) proposed the flexible loop
antenna which works as a multiband for implantable
application in MedRadio and ISM bands. The author designed
the flexible loop antenna with CSRRs; it is used to reduce
absorbed power inside the body, electric near field intensity,
improves antenna impedance matching and increases gain and
efficiency (Alrawashdeh et al., 2015). Xu et al. (2015) proposed
the dipole antenna with BW enhancement for ingestible
capsule system. In this paper off-center feeding dipole adapted
for enhancement of impedance matching of an antenna (Xu
et al., 2015). Nikolayev et al. (2017) developed a low-profile
conformal microstrip antenna used for wide range of in-body
capsule application. It consists of ultra-miniature dimensions,
enhanced robustness and its efficiency allows to employ it for
ingestible and implantable applications. Higher permittivity
material, used to increase radiation efficiency, improve the
robustness or decrease the capsule shell thickness (Nikolayev
et al., 2017). Faerber et al. (2018) developed helical shaped
antenna and used WCE; this integrated system is tested using
human tissue phantom and in vivo porcine model.
6. Conclusion
In this paper, information of microwave sensors, IMDs, its
use, different antenna types, needs of an implantable
antenna and design requirements are given. There
microwave sensors are helpful for information of technology
(IoT)-based health care. Because, continuous monitoring of
health is possible. IMDs now a-days are used for
monitoring, diagnosis purpose and it can connect to IoT-
based system. All the works referred have considered the
significance of human body characteristics in the properties
of the antenna and, the size reduction is yet another
parameter which has been taken under consideration. Most
of the antennas discussed here operate in the MICS and
ISM bands. Design of implantable antenna mainly
depends on miniaturization, biocompatibility, wireless
communication ability, patient safety and biocompatibility.
While testing an implantable antenna, certain requirements
need to be taken care of; preparation of making skin
mimicking gel is quite challenging because it should match
« r and s of human skin for designed frequency bands.
Development of next-generation miniaturize antenna
involves a complex and dense integration of sensor, logic
and power source. Testing the fabricated antenna in vitro
and vivo is an ongoing challenge which needs focus. Testing
of these antenna in vivo is a challenge in terms of achieving
the requirement of biocompatibility. The compromise
between the SAR and the power required for
communication is also another focus area.
Sensor Review
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commission (ERC)recommendation 70-03 relating to the
use of short range”, European Conference of Postal and
Telecommunications Administration, CEPT/ERC 70-03, Annex
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Further reading
Kiourti, A. and Nikita, K.S. (2012), “A review of implantable
patch antennas for biomedical telemetry: challenges and
solutions”, IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine,
Vol. 54 No. 3, pp. 210-228.
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(2011), “Rectenna application of miniaturized implantable
antenna design for Triple-Band biotelemetry
communication”, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and
Propagation, Vol. 59 No. 7, pp. 2646-2653.
Iddan, G., Meron, G., Glukhovsky, A. and Swain, P. (2000),
“Wireless capsule endoscopy”, Nature, Vol. 405 No. 6785,
p. 417.
Given Imaging, M2A Capsule Camera, [Online], available at:
www.givenimaging.com/
Corresponding author
Dr Elizabeth Rufus can be contacted at: elizabethrufus@vit.
ac.in