ECE994:Antennas

PatchAntennaImplantedInsideofaHumanBody
JasonLewis

TableofContents
1.Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 3 1.1OverviewofImplantableMedicalSystems........................................................................3 F1.1MaterialCharacteristicsat403.5MHz ..........................................................................................3 F1.2PenetrationDepthofTissuesat403.5MHz ..............................................................................4 1.2UsesofImplantableCommunicationSystems..................................................................4 1.3RadioFrequenciesofInterestforImplantableMedicalSystems ..............................4 1.4ImplantCommunicationSystemSpecifications ..............................................................5 2.AntennaDesignforISMBand ......................................................................................... 5 2.1DesignConsiderations..............................................................................................................5 F2.1CalculationsforRectangularPatchAntenna .............................................................................5 F2.2LayoutofthePatchAntennausedfortheISMBand..............................................................6 F2.3EquivalentCircuitModelandEquations.....................................................................................7 2.2AnalysisofISMBandAntenna ...............................................................................................7 F2.4ElectricFieldPatterninFreeSpace...............................................................................................8 F2.5AntennaGainvs.Angle........................................................................................................................8 F2.6ImpedancePlots.....................................................................................................................................9 F2.7ElectricFieldStrengthInsideofPhantom ...............................................................................10 F2.8GainvsAngleInsideofPhantom .................................................................................................10 3.AntennaDesignforMICSBand.................................................................................... 11 3.1DesignConsiderations........................................................................................................... 11 F3.1PIFASchematic....................................................................................................................................11 F3.2XFDTDLayoutofPIFA......................................................................................................................11 3.2AnalysisofMICSBandAntenna .......................................................................................... 12 F3.3ElectricFieldPatterninFreeSpace............................................................................................12 F2.4AntennaGainvs.Angle.....................................................................................................................13 F3.5ImpedancePlots..................................................................................................................................13 F3.6ElectricFieldStrengthInsideofPhantom ...............................................................................14 F3.7GainvsAngleInsideofPhantom .................................................................................................15 Conclusion............................................................................................................................... 15 WorksCited ............................................................................................................................ 17

1.Introduction
1.1OverviewofImplantableMedicalSystems
Thepurposeofthispaperistoinvestigatethevariousaspectspertainingtotheuse of implantable medical devices, specifically the antenna portion of the device. The examplesthatarepresentedwithinthispaperareverifiedusingtheFDTDapproach viaRemconsXFTDsoftware.Asourpopulationisagingandpeoplearewishingto liveontheirownatolderagesaneedforremotemonitoringofindividualsarises. Devicesarebeingimplantedintothetissuesofhumanbeingstomonitorvitalsigns andtocontrolotherimplanteddevices. Typical implanted communication systems involve three main components. These components are a transceiver, an antenna, and a power supply. The transceiver is made up of the circuitry that will send, receive and process data to and from the antenna. The power supply will be a battery that is generally encased within proximitytothetransceiver.Thetransceiverandtheantennawillneedtoconsume as small of an amount of power as possible during the data transfer cycles to prolong the use of the device. To replace a battery that is powering an implanted medicaldevicewillrequireinvasivesurgery. Designingantennasthataretobeimplantedwithinthehumanbodyarechallenging. Sizelimitationsandtheharshenvironmentofthehumanbodycreateextraworkfor theantennadesigner.Precisionneedstobepresentatsuchsmalldevicesizes.Body tissueshaveamuchhigherrelativepermittivitythantheair.Thisinturnwillleadto a slower propagation velocity and therefore a smaller wavelength. F1.1 shows the differencesinpermittivityandwavelengthfordifferentbodilytissuesoperatingat 403.5MHz(Richerd). F1.1MaterialCharacteristicsat403.5MHz

Thistableleadstoaninterestingconclusion,thehighrelativepermittivityofbodily tissues will create shorter wavelengths and antennas can be designed for these shorter wavelengths. In other words the antenna implanted within the body is electrically larger. This will help designers create the antenna to be implanted withinthebody,butthisalsomeansthatanantennadesignedinforimplantusewill notoperatethesameinthefreespacerealm. The penetration depth of a wave is also effective through the body tissues. Lower frequencieswillpenetratefurtherthanthehigherones,aswouldbeexpected.For the 403.5 MHz the penetration depth for various tissues are summarized in F1.2 (Yazdandoost). F1.2PenetrationDepthofTissuesat403.5MHz Tissue PenetrationDepthIncm DrySkin 5.51 WetSkin 5.81 Fat 30.85 Muscle 5.25

1.2UsesofImplantableCommunicationSystems

As stated above implantable communication systems can be used for biomedical applications.Inthispaperwewillassumethatthisistheprimaryfocus.Someofthe otherapplicationsforimplantablecommunicationsystemswillbepresentedinthis section.Implantablecommunicationsystemscanbeusedfortrackingbothhuman andanimals.Thisiscurrentlydoneonsomesmallpets.RFIDtaggingisbecominga popularwaytocontroltheflowofpeoplesegressanddeegressinabuilding.The same proximity devices used to access doors can be implanted into human tissue. Although this is not used currently it will be interesting to see if implanted communicationsystemswillbeutilizedinbuildingsecurityandautomation.

1.3RadioFrequenciesofInterestforImplantableMedicalSystems
There are two main bands of interest with implantable medical communication systems.ThesebandsareknowastheIndustrial,ScientificandMedical(ISM)band, and the Medical Implant Communication Service (MICS) band. This ISM band has typicallyusedthe2.42.5GHzregionforoperatingmedicalequipment.Thebandis limited to 1Wradiated power. This is an easier band to design antennas at due to thehigherfrequencyofoperation(ISMBand). ThesecondbandutilizedforimplantedmedicalcommunicationsiscalledtheMICS band. This band has typically used the frequency rage of 402 405 MHz. The maximumbandwidthforcommunicationsis300kHz.TheMICSbandisalsolimits theEffectiveRadiatedPower(EFP)to25Woutsideofthebody.Thislimitationwill hinder other equipment from interfering while operating on the same frequency band(Medical Implant Communication Service). This band is shared with weather balloons and satellite telemetry. Methods such as ultrasound communication and 4

opticalcommunicationhavealsobeenpurposedfortheMICSband.Theselatertwo methodswillrequirethereceivertobeveryclosetosurfaceoftheimplantlocation. SincethispaperisbasedonantennatheorytheRFcommunicationwillbeobserved. Thesetwobandswillbepracticalinthispaperandtwosubsequentantennaswillbe designedaroundthem.

1.4ImplantCommunicationSystemSpecifications
Antennasthatwillpotentiallybeusedinsideofimplantedcommunicationsystems will need to consume very small amounts of power. Systems will typically only be consumingpowerduringdatatransmissionandperiodicpollingforsignalsfroma transmittingunit.Tofacilitatethisthesystemwillsleepwhenitisnottransferring data to remote stations. A wakeup signal will be sent from the remote transceiver when it needs to communicate with the implanted device. To further conserve powerdataissentinshortbursts.Theseshortburstswillconsumelesspowerthan asteadydataflow. Remote stations that will receive data from the implanted medical device are capableofreceivingdatafromveryweaksignals.Typicalreceiverscanoperateat 99dBm(.1pW)(dBm).Therangeoftheremotestationsislimited;thisismostlikely duetothefactthattheyarecapableofoperatingataverylowpower.Typicalranges areapproximatelyaround2mfromtheimplantedantenna(Bradley).

2.AntennaDesignforISMBand
2.1DesignConsiderations
FortheISMbandarectangularpatchantennawascreated.Thistypeofantennais attractive because the bandwidth is very narrow. For the ISM band a center frequency of 2.45 GHz was chosen. The design was created using the following equationsshowninfigureF2.1(Balanis).Fromtheseequationsslightmodifications werecreatedtomaximizeperformance. F2.1CalculationsforRectangularPatchAntenna

 Initially titania was used to construct the substrate of the patch antenna. This seemed like a relatively good idea because the relative permittivity of titania is around 50. This is very close to the relative permittivity muscle and blood. Some research shows that materials with a relative permittivity of around 10 are very usefulwhenusedasthesubstrateofapatchantenna.Forthisreasonaluminawas usedtocreatethesubstrate.Thefeedforthepatchantennawasalsooffsetfromthe centerofthepatchantenna. Theactualconstructionoftheantennaincludesagroundplaneatthebottomlayer and a conducting plane (microstrip) at the top layer. The top layer of the antenna hasdimensionsof19.2mmby32mm.Thegroundplaneandtheconductingplane areseparatedbyanaluminasubstratewithathicknessof2mm.Thevolumeofthe antennais1.3cm3.Thisisacompactdesignthatwillbeeasilyimplantedwithinthe tissue of the patient. The simple geometry of this design allows for easy manufacturing of the equipment. The feed placement of the antenna can be fed using a 25 coaxial cable connected through a via in the ground plane to the microstrip. This design went through many different revisions throughout the simulations to increase the effectiveness of the antenna. Most of these revisions were done as smallmodificationstothedesignbasedonworkperformedbyotherengineers.The antennacreatedisverydifferentfromthemathematicalmodel.F2.2showsthefinal layoutofthepatchantennausedfortheISMband.Adjustmentstotheterminating resistanceweremadeusingtheImpedancemeasurementtoolinXFDTD.F2.3shows theequivalentcircuitmodelandequations. F2.2LayoutofthePatchAntennausedfortheISMBand

F2.3EquivalentCircuitModelandEquations

where

2.2AnalysisofISMBandAntenna
ThepatchantennausedtooperateontheISMbandwasanalyzedusingtheXFDTD software. The antenna was placed inside of a phantom to simulate human tissue. The phantom was composed of a material mixture that simulates skin and muscle components.Theelectricalpropertiesofthephantomareanelectricpermittivityof 45.2 and a conductivity of .61S/m. This material makeup was taken from the researchperformedbyC.M.Leeandassociates(Lee,YoandLuo).Theantennawas implanted4mmbelowthesurfaceofthephantom.Simulationswereperformedin theXFDTDenvironmentbothinsideandoutsideofthephantom. Theinitialsimulationswereperformedoutsideofthephantom.Theantennasystem wasdesignedtoworkinsideofhumantissuesothefreespaceenvironmentisnot the ideal test bed for the system. F2.4 shows the electric field pattern for the antennasysteminfreespace. Theantennahasaboresightof90andradiates27.8W.F2.5showsthegainofthe antennasysteminfreespace.Theantennahasamaximumgainof11.5dBiat90. This is relatively good for considering that the antenna was designed to operate withinthebody.Thebeamwidthorthe3dBmeasurementoftheantennais160.

F2.4ElectricFieldPatterninFreeSpace F2.5AntennaGainvs.Angle

After these initial free space simulations were performed the antenna system was placedinaphantom4mmbelowthesurface.Thefirstparameterthatwasobserved was the input impedance. F2.6 shows the magnitude of the impedance and the compleximpedanceplots.Thecompleximpedanceisveryconstantoverthebandof interest(2.4to2.5GHz).Fromtheinformationthevoltagesourcewasterminated with a 25 resistance. Therefore we have a matched system. This will reduce the amountofpowerthatisreflectedbackintothesource.Tuningtheimpedanceofthe

sourcefortheantennaisaveryimportantprocessthatwillensurethattheantenna willoutputthecorrectelectricfieldradiation. F2.6ImpedancePlots

The Electric Field Strength pattern can be seen in F2.7. The bore sight of the antennaisat180andtheantennaisradiating27.7Wofpower.Thisisclosetothe amount of power that should be radiated for the implant device. Within the ISM bandthepowerlimitationoutsideofthebodyis1W.Theradiatedpowerinthiscase is very close to the limits on the MICS band. The radiated power is more than sufficientforwirelesscommunicationwithareceiverthatiswithin2metersofthe subject.(Remotestationsarecapableofdatatransmissionoperationsat.1pW).

F2.7ElectricFieldStrengthInsideofPhantom The gain of the antenna is the next portion of the simulation that will be investigated. With an antenna so small, made electrically larger via the high permittivityoftheimplantedtissue,devicessuchastheinputfeedcanhamperthe measurementofgain(Sivard,BradleyandChadwick).WiththisinmindF2.8shows the gain for the antenna implantedwithin the phantom.Themaximumgainof the antenna,whichisseenat180is20dBi.Whengoingforthefreespaceexampleto the implanted example the gain was lowered 8.5dBi. The beam width for the antennainsideofthephantomis72.5. F2.8GainvsAngleInsideofPhantom

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 Aplanarsensorwasplacedontheantennafield.Thisallowedforthevisualization of the electric and magnetic fields. Reflections that occurred at the source, feed point,wereminimalbecausetheimpedanceswerematched.

3.AntennaDesignforMICSBand
3.1DesignConsiderations
For the MICS band a rectangular patch antenna would be too large, therefore a PlanarInverterFAntenna(PIFA)wasdesigned.Thistypeofantennaisavariantof thepatchantenna.FortheMICSbandacenterfrequencyof403.5MHzwaschosen. The design was created using the schematic created by Lee, Yo and Lau. This is shown in figure F3.1(Lee, Yo and Luo). Layouts for each of the three layers are showninF3.2.ThexsymbolizesthefeedandtheOsymbolizestheshortingpin.The firstlayeractsasagroundplanefortheantennaandthetwootherlayersarethe conductinglayers.ThisisaverycompactdesignastheradiusofthePIFAantennais only 7mm. This fact alone makes the PIFA antenna attractive for implant use. The material Alumina was again chosen for the substrate and the superstrate of the PIFA. F3.1PIFASchematic

F3.2XFDTDLayoutofPIFA

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 The ground plane and the two conducting plane are separated by an alumina substratewithathicknessof0.63mm.ThetotalthicknessofthePIFAis1.9mm.The antennaisfedusinga20coaxialcableconnectedthroughaviainthegroundplane to the conducting layers. This feed is in parallel to a 20 shorting pin. The combinationofthesetwocomponentsmeansthereisa10sourcetermination. Adjustments to the terminating resistance were made using the Impedance measurementtoolinXFDTD.

3.2AnalysisofMICSBandAntenna
ThePIFAusedtooperateontheMICSbandwasanalyzedusingtheXFDTDsoftware. Theantennawasplacedinsideofaphantomtosimulatehumantissue.Thephantom was composed of a material mixture that simulates skin and muscle components. The electrical properties of the phantom are an electric permittivity of 45.2 and a conductivity of .61S/m. This material makeup was taken from the research performedbyC.M.Leeandassociates(Lee,YoandLuo).Theantennawasimplanted 4mmbelowthesurfaceofthephantom.SimulationswereperformedintheXFDTD environmentinsideandoutsideofthephantom. Theinitialsimulationswereperformedoutsideofthephantom.Theantennasystem wasdesignedtoworkinsideofhumantissuesothefreespaceenvironmentisnot the ideal test bed for the system. F3.3 shows the electric field pattern for the antenna system in free space. The antenna has a bore sight of 30 and radiates 22nW.F3.4showsthegainoftheantennasysteminfreespace.Theantennahasa maximumgainof52dBiat30.Thebeamwidthoftheantennainfreespaceis120. F3.3ElectricFieldPatterninFreeSpace

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F2.4AntennaGainvs.Angle

After the initial free space simulations were performed the antenna system was placedinaphantom4mmbelowthesurface.Thefirstparameterthatwasobserved was the input impedance. F3.5 shows the magnitude of the impedance and the compleximpedanceplots.Thecompleximpedanceisveryconstantoverthebandof interest(402to405MHz).Fromtheinformationthevoltagesourcewasterminated with a 10 resistance. The impedances are matched creating a matched network. Thisreducestheamountofpowerthatisreflectedbackintothesource.Tuningthe impedanceofthesourcefortheantennaisaveryimportantprocessthatwillensure thattheantennawilloutputthecorrectelectricfieldradiation.Thisprocessisthe sameasthetuningoftherectangularpatchantenna. F3.5ImpedancePlots

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 The Electric Field Strength pattern can be seen in F3.6. The bore sight of the antennaisat30andtheantennaisradiating21nWofpower.TheMICSbandlimits thepowerradiatedoutsideofthebodyto25W.Theradiatedpowerismorethan sufficientforwirelesscommunicationwithareceiverthatiswithin2metersofthe subject.(Remotestationsarecapableofdatatransmissionoperationsat.1pW). F3.6ElectricFieldStrengthInsideofPhantom The gain of the antenna is the next portion of the simulation that will be investigated. With an antenna so small, made electrically larger via the high 14

permittivityoftheimplantedtissue,devicessuchastheinputfeedcanhamperthe measurementofgain(Sivard,BradleyandChadwick).WiththisinmindF3.7shows the gain for the antenna implanted within the phantom. The maximum gain of 52dBi occurs around 30. The gain is the same for both the free space and the implantedexample.Thisplotalsoshowsthatthebeamwidthoftheantennais125. F3.7GainvsAngleInsideofPhantom

Aplanarsensorwasplacedontheantennafield.Thisallowedforthevisualization of the electric and magnetic fields. Reflections that occurred at the source were minimalbecausetheimpedanceswerematched.

Conclusion

Theresultsfromeachoneoftheantennadesignsshowthattheycanbeutilizedfor implanted communication system. The results are very promising and rewarding. Initialdesignsfortheantennasweredifficultandagreatdealofreconfiguringwas needed to create an antenna that would be suitable for implantation. If more time was present in the course work would be done to increase the efficiency of the antennas, both antennas were less than 1% efficient according to the XFDTD software. This is the major problem that has arisen with the antenna designs that were chosen. This is also an issue that is plaguing other companies that design antennas for implanted communication systems. There will always be tradeoffs betweensize,efficiencyandeffectiverange. 15

The interesting portion of this paper is the investigation of the way that the antennasactwithinaphantom.TheISMbandrectangularpatchantennaiscapable of radiating 27.3W and has a beam width of 72.5. The MICS band PIFA antenna radiates21nWwithabeamwidthof125.Thoughthetwodesignsareoperatingat different frequencies there is a tradeoff between the beam width and radiated power. The gain of the antenna in both cases is very low. This is due to the many lossesthatoccurwithinhumantissue. ImplantedcommunicationsystemsutilizeeithertheMICSorISMbands.Designing antennas for implant applications can be difficult to the harsh environment of the humanbody.Therearemanytradeoffsthatneedtobeconsideredwhendesigning for implanted communication systems. These tradeoffs include radiated power, power consumption, efficiency and size. Of these size is the limiting factor; larger antennas are not easily implanted and will encounter different types of tissue. Remcons XFDTD software is a useful tool for the design and analysis of antenna systems.Throughtheprojectandwrittenreportaspectofthiscoursealotofnew informationinantennatheoryaswellasmodelingandsimulatingdevicesinXFDTD.

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WorksCited

Balanis,Constantine.AntennaTheoryAnalysisandDesign.Hoboken:JohnWileyand Sons,INC,2005. Bradley,Peter.ImplantableultralowpowerRadioChipFacilitatesInBody Communications.7June2007.23June2009<www.mobiledevdesign.com>. dBm.22July2009.23July2009<www.wikipedia.com>. ISMBand.1July2009.23July2009<www.wikipedia.com>. Lee,C.M.,etal."CompactBroadbandStackedImplantableAntennaforBiotelemetry WithMedicalDevices."7June2007.IEEEXplore.23July2009 <www.ieeexplore.ieee.org>. MedicalImplantCommunicationService.17February2009.15June2009 <www.wikipedia.com>. Richerd,JeanDaniel."MedicalDesign:UnderMySkin."EmbeddedSystemsEurope (2009). Sivard,Ake,etal."TheChallengeofDesigningInBodyCommunications."November 2004.EETimesIndia.23July2009<www.eetindia.co.in>. Yazdandoost,Kamya."IEEEP802.15WorkingGroupforWirelessPersonalArea NetworksMedicalImplantCommunicationSystem."July2006.IEEE.21July2009 <www.mentor.ieee.org>.

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