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A miniaturized Wearable Finger-Ring Antenna For Medical Sensing at 2.45 GHz

ISM Band

Conference Paper · July 2023

DOI: 10.1109/USNC-URSI52151.2023.10237954

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Rania Rabhi A. Gharsallah

University of Tunis El Manar University of Tunis El Manar
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Omar Ramahi
University of Waterloo
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 A miniaturized Wearable Finger-Ring Antenna For
Medical Sensing at 2.45 GHz ISM Band.
Rania Rabhi (1,2), Ali Gharsallah (1), and Omar M.Ramahi(2)
(1) Physics Department, Faculty of Sciences of University of El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia, (rrabhi@uwaterloo.ca)
(2) Electrical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada (omar.ramahi@uwaterloo.ca)

II. ANTENNA CONFIGURATION

Abstract—A low-profile wearable finger-ring antenna,
operating at the 2.45 GHz industrial scientific medical (ISM) The top view of the introduced antenna is shown in Fig .1(a).
band, is presented. The antenna was miniaturized to match the The antenna topology is etched on the top layer of a flexible
standard ring size (0.46 λ ×0.04λ ×0.004 λ) available in the market, substrate Rogers RT 5880 with a permittivity of (εr = 3.55) and
making it suitable for daily activities and wearer’s lifestyle a tangent loss of (tan δ = 0.0027) and an overall dimension of
integration. The antenna was attached to an average hand size 56.5×5×0.5 mm3 (0.46λ×0.04λ×0.004λ). Then, it was
phantom in the simulation. The obtained results illustrate that the cylindrically bent over a curvature radius of (R=9 mm) to mimic
proposed design provides good performance in terms of the average ring form and size. Fig .1 (b) displays the 3D model
bandwidth, radiation characteristics, low specific absorption rate of the ring antenna mounted on hand. The antenna's overall
(SAR), and compact size, which makes it a strong candidate as a structure is very compact and simple, and it can be worn like a
finger-ring antenna for medical sensing applications. conventional ring. CST Microwave Studio is used to provide the
hand phantom, simulate, and optimize the proposed antenna.
I. INTRODUCTION
The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) will significantly
improve the quality of medical services by providing more
convenience to patients and increasing the quality of care due
(a)
to its extensive applications. IoMT can be used to connect smart
medical devices to detect severe disease, to monitor vital signs,
5 mm
and to track disease progression [1]. In such biomedical
monitoring systems, wearable antennas play a critical role in
maintaining an efficient wireless communication link and
continuously collecting data from wearable sensors distributed
on the body [2]. Consequently, wearable antennas have
received a significant attention and have made rapid progress
over the past decade. The development of wearable antennas,
which can be completely integrated into individual fashion and
lifestyle such as smartwatches [3-4], wristbands, [5] eyeglasses,
[6] and so on, will facilitate the adoption of wearable sensors
technology. Compared to conventional antennas, the design
approach and performance requirements of wearable antennas
differ significantly. It is important to take into account the
strong coupling between the antenna and the human body, the
antenna’s flexibility, compactness, low SAR, high efficiency, (b)
Figure 1. (a) Geometry of the proposed antenna (b) antenna mounted on finger
and wide bandwidth [7]. Considering such factors, we introduce
a new finger-ring antenna design that features simple topology,
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
good performance, low SAR, and a low-profile structure,
guaranteeing a comfortability to the wearers for daily usage. The simulated reflection coefficient of the ring antenna is
The details of the simulated results, related to different finger shown in Fig .2 (a). An impedance bandwidth of 4.11%,
sizes and different ring positions, are also investigated. This ranging from 2.38 GHz to 2.48 GHz, while covering the 2.45
antenna can be leveraged in many medical sensing applications, GHz ISM band, is achieved. Considering the fact that the
such as blood glucose monitoring, blood oxygen monitoring, human body is a lossy dielectric medium, as illustrated in Fig
Parkinson diseases tracking, fitness tracking, and so forth. .1 (b), the simulated radiation efficiency is noted to be 49%,
showing proper on-body radiation performance.

(a) (b)
Figure 2. Simulated performance (a) reflection coefficient (b) radiation
efficiency.
Further study of the effect of ring rotation and human finger
size difference on the antenna performance, as depicted in Fig
.3 (a), was also evaluated. As seen from Fig 3. (b), a tiny
frequency shift is observed by changing the curvature radii
from R = 8 to 10 mm. It is worth noting that it is still covering
the 2.45 GHz ISM band, despite the frequency shift, which
confirms the validity of the ring antenna for different gender
and age. Similarly, as shown in Fig .3 (c), frequency shift
toward upper values is observed when the antenna is rotated
from θ = 0° to 270°. This change is reasonable and can be
explained by the effect of the high permittivity of the other
fingers on the antenna performance as well as the asymmetric
antenna shape. Hence, best results are obtained when the
radiation element is on top of the finger.
(a)
(b) (c)
Figure 3. (a) Bending and rotation configuration of the ring antenna (b) |S11| for
different finger sizes (c) |S11| for different antenna positions.
When the antenna is designed to be wearable, it is crucial to
take into consideration the electromagnetic waves absorbed by
the body. Based on US and EU standards, the SAR limit is 1.6
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W/kg and 2 W/kg for 1-g and 10-g tissues, respectively [8]. It
is obvious from Fig .4 that, for 100 mW input power, the
maximum recorded SAR level is 1.52 W/kg and 0.536 W/kg for
1-g and 10-g human skin tissues, respectively, following the
safety limitation.
(a) (b)
Figure 4. SAR distribution for (a) 1-g tissue (b) 10-g tissue.
IV. CONCLUSION
In this paper, a miniaturized ring antenna, operating at 2.45
GHz, is presented. Despite its compact size, the antenna was
able to achieve good performance in terms of impedance
bandwidth (100 MHz), covering the ISM band, good on-body
radiation efficiency (49%), along with low SAR values,
ensuring compliance with safety regulations for wearable
applications. On top of that, the antenna shows stable
performance for different finger sizes. Altogether, these
features make the proposed antenna a strong candidate for
medical sensing applications. It is an ongoing work, and the
antenna fabrication and performance measurement are in
progress.
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