Design and Test of a Miniature 2.

45 GHz Antenna for Implantable Medical Devices

Xueyi Yu1, Guolin Li1, Lingwei Zhang2 and Zhihua Wang2
1, Department of Electronics Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China 100084 2, Institute of Microelectronics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China 100084 {yxy00, zlw03}@mails.tsinghua.edu.cn; {guolinli, zhihua}@tsinghua.edu.cn
AbstractA miniature 2.45GHz microstrip antenna based on

the short pin technique is presented. The antenna is designated for implantable medical devices which have extreme stringent requirements on components sizes. Theoretical analysis and implementation details of the antenna are presented in this paper. Direct measurement results show that the antenna achieves an impedance bandwidth of 104 MHz and a maximum gain of about 0 dbi. Preliminary animal test has been carried out which has verified the effectiveness of this antenna when working inside animal bodies. Keyword microstrip antenna; shorting pin technique; miniaturization; preliminary animal test I. INTRODUCTION

system and achieves an acceptable compromise between the performance and the cost. This paper is organized as follows. Different techniques for minimization are summarized in part II and the shorting pin technique is chosen for its simplicity and good performance. Methods to enhance the efficiency and impedance bandwidth are presented in part III based on the theoretical analysis and the final antenna design is given in details in part IV with its characteristics directly measured. The preliminary animal test of this antenna is presented in part V. The direct measurement results and animal test results show great consistency with the theoretical analysis and the simulation data. II. ANTENNA GEOMETRY

Implantable medical device (IMD) applications require RF antennas having very small dimensions and being easily implemented with biocompatible materials. Microstrip antennas have received much attention because of the attractive features of low profile, light weight, easy fabrication, and conformability to mounting hosts[1] which make it quite suitable for IMD applications. However, special attentions need to be paid to its impedance bandwidth and efficiency which might limit its application in some IMDs, especially an IMD such as a wireless capsule endoscope system[2-4]. In this system, the smart capsule moves though the whole digestive tract and takes pictures, and the working environment of the antenna varies a lot. In such an application, good impedance bandwidth and efficiency turn to be especially important. Otherwise, the radiation power from the antenna could be attenuated too much and the system could be out of work. Theoretical analysis shows that increasing the substrate thickness can broaden the impedance bandwidth and reduce the dielectric loss so as to enhance the radiating efficiency[5-7]. Substrate with a small loss tangent also helps to improve the antenna efficiency. In this paper, with the aid of simulation using Ansoft HFSS software, a 10 mm-diameter microstrip antenna is designed and fabricated on small loss tangent substrate F4KB335 through low cost PCB process. The antenna resonates at 2.45 GHz with an impedance bandwidth of 104 MHz and a maximum gain of 0 dBi. It can be used for a wireless capsule endoscope

Many techniques have been already used to reduce the size of microstrip antennas at a fixed frequency [5, 8-10]. (a) Using substrate of a larger permittivity is a simple method. However, it has negative influence on the impedance bandwidth[6]. (b) Lengthen the excited patch surface current path so as to enhance the effective electrical dimension of the antenna can be realized by inserting proper slits or slots on the patch[6], employing U-shaped patch or folded patch[9], or using irises[10]. The latter two obviously require complex process to fabricate. On the other hand, the gain and the impedance bandwidth of a microstrip antenna are positively related to its effective volume[6, 11], which limits the number of slits and slots thus limits the effect of slit/slots insertion technique significantly. (c) The use of an edge-shorted patch for size reduction is another way for miniaturization. One can connect the edge of a radiating patch to the ground by shorting wall, shorting plate or shorting pin. It can reduce the antennas physical length by half because the shorting component makes the antenna act as a quarter-length structure[5]. Taking both simplicity and performance as criterion, shorting pin technique is employed in our design. The geometry of the antenna designed is illustrated in Figure 1. The radiating patch is fed by a probe, which as well as the shorting pin can be realized through a via in PCB process.

1-4244-2396-5/08/$20.00 2008 IEEE

mode[1, 14]. The cutoff frequency fc of different mode of surface wave is give by Equation (2)[1, 6, 11] :
fC = nc 4h r 1

(2)

Fig. 1. Geometries of the radiating patch and ground plane

(R1: Outer radius of the arc; R2: Inner radius of the arc; R3: Half the width of the microstrip between feeding probe and shorting pin; R4: Radius of the circular aperture in the ground plane; RS: Radius of the shorting pin; RF: Radius of the feeding probe; DS: Distance from the shorting pin to the center of the circular patch; DF: Distance from the feeding probe to the center of the circular patch; h: Thickness of the substrate; : Radian of the arc)

where c is the light speed, h is the substrate thickness, r is the relative permittivity of the substrate, and n is the order of the radiating mode. TM0 mode will always resonate regardless of the substrate thickness, while high mode surface wave start resonating as the substrate becomes thicker. The influence of the surface wave can be ignored when the substrate thickness satisfies the inequality h<0.02g [15], which can be achieved by proper choice of the substrate. So the major factor for radiating efficiency is the microstrip loss, which includes conduct loss and dielectric loss[7]:

= C + D
D = f eff ( eff 1) r
c( r 1) eff tan

From the basis that the antenna is a quarter-wavelength structure, the resonating frequency f0 can be derived from Equation (1): c (1) f0 = 4 L eff where c is the speed of light, eff is the effective relative permittivity of the substrate[7] for a microstrip whose width is W=R1-R2. And L is the length of the patch arm, L = DS = ( R1 + R2 ) 2 .

(3)

(4) (5)

C = R( f ) Z 0

where tan is the substrate loss tangent, Z0 is the character impedance of the antennas arc arm, and R(f) is the unit length impedance under different frequency[16].
1 RDC = Wt C R( f ) = 1 R = AC 2(W + t 2 C ) C C

(f (f

f skin ) f skin )

III.

GAIN AND IMPEDANCE BANDWIDTH ENHANCEMENT

Though microstrip antennas are capable of miniaturization, they usually suffer from the drawback of narrow impedance bandwidth and low radiating efficiency (thus low gain)[1], which limits the application significantly. To broaden the impedance bandwidth, one can take following measures[5, 12, 13]: (a) Increasing the substrates thickness so as to compensate for the decreased electrical thickness of a compact antenna. However, the antenna tends to be entirely inductive and stop resonating with increasing substrate thickness[6]. (b) Inducing chip-resistor loading will lower the quality factor of the antenna thus broaden the impedance bandwidth. But the chip-resistor greatly influence on the radiating efficiency[13]. (c) Inserting suitable slits or slots on the ground plane can also lower the quality factor and broaden the impedance bandwidth[5]. But as mentioned in part II, its not so effective for a miniature antenna. There are two major factors influencing the radiating efficiency[1], namely surface wave and microstrip loss. Surface wave will radiate the energy into the substrate in TM or TE

(6)

where W is the width of the microstrip, t is the thickness, C is the conductivity, C is the skin depth, and f skin = 4 ( 0 C t 2 ) is the frequency when C equals half the strip thickness t. Figure 2 illustrates the h curve for FR4 (r=4.4, tan=0.02) and F4BK335 (r=3.5, tan=0.001) substrate. The metal is copper (C=5.5 107 /m, t=35 um). Both (a) and (b) show that the microstrip loss tends to be smaller while the substrate thickness increases. The figure also shows that the depends mostly on dielectric loss for the substrate with a large loss tangent (FR4) and conduct loss for the substrate with a small loss tangent (F4BK335). The -h curve becomes flat for a thick substrate, thus the thickness of the substrate neednt be too large. In fact, as mentioned before, if the substrate is too thick, high mode surface wave maybe start resonating, or the antenna will be entirely inductive and stop resonating[6]. From Figure 2(b), 4 mm thickness for the F4BK335 substrate is enough for low loss applications.

1 0.9 0.8 0.7 Loss Constant (1/m) 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 Substrate Thickness (mm) 4 4.5 5 Alpha AlphaC - - - - AlphaD

To enhance the impedance bandwidth and the efficiency (thus the gain), thicker microwave substrate with small loss tangent is used in the final design. From the analyses, F4BK335 with substrate thickness of 4mm is chosen. Table II gives the characteristics of five antennas fabricated on round F4BK335 substrate, with radius of 5 mm. The parameters are as follows: R3=1 mm, R4=2mm, RF=0.65 mm, DF=1 mm, RS=0.5 mm, DS=4 mm, =5.88. The result shows that the impedance bandwidth has enhanced from 40 MHz to about 100 MHz, and the gain has increased to about 0 dBi from -10 dBi.
TABLE II Measurement Characteristic of antennas fabricated on F4BK335 substrate (r=3.5, h=4 mm, tan=0.001)
Alpha AlphaC - - - - AlphaD

0.14

0.12

No. 5 6 7 8 9

Loss Constant (1/m)

0.1

0.08

0.06

R1 (mm) 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5

R2 (mm) 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5

f (MHz) 2635 2534 2449 2420 2385

BW (MHz) 104 113 104 90 84

Gain (dBi) 0 0 0 0 0

0.04

0.02 0.5

1.5

2 2.5 3 3.5 Substrate Thickness (mm)

4.5

Fig. 2. h curves for FR4 and F4BK335 substrate (a) FR4 (r=4.4, tan=0.02) (b) F4Bk335 (r=3.5, tan=0.001)

Figure 3 illustrates the S parameter of No.7 antenna measured by Agilent 8753ES RF network analyzer. It can be seen from the figure that the return loss at the resonant frequency (2.45GHz) is about -16 dB, and the impedance bandwidth is about 104 MHz (VSWR<2). Figure 4 is the radiating pattern of No.7 antenna based on Ansoft HFSS simulation. From the pattern, one can see that the gain of the antenna arrives at its maximum at the direction =111 =348, namely -0.17 dBi, which is consistent with the measurement result.

IV.

IMPLEMENTATIONS AND MEASUREMENTS

Table I gives the characteristic of four antennas fabricated on the square FR4 (r=4.4, h=1.6 mm, tan =0.02) substrate, with the dimension of 20 mm x 20 mm. The antennas employ the geometry depicted in Fig 1, and the parameter are as follows: R1=5 mm, R2=3 mm, R3=1 mm, R4=2mm, RF=0.65 mm, DF=1 mm, RS=0.5 mm, DS=4 mm. As expected, when the ground plane is large enough for the patch, the resonant frequency derived from Equation (1) coheres with the measurement result.
TABLE I Characteristics of four antennas fabricated on FR4 substrates (r=4.4, h=1.6 mm, tan=0.02)

(rad)

Resonant Frequency (MHz) Equ. (1) 2540 2430 2345 2270 HFSS 2550 2449 2349 2263 Meas. 2551 2446 2360 2289

Impedance Bandwidth (MHz) HFSS 45 42 40 40 Meas. 40 40 40 40

Gain (dBi) Meas. -10 -10 -10 -10

Fig. 3. Port character of No.7 antenna (Measured by Agilent 8753ES RF network analyzer)

4.09 4.25 4.44 4.61

Fig. 6. Test in a live pig Fig. 4. Radiating pattern of No.7 antenna ( =111

=348)

Use Equation (1) to calculate the resonating frequency of the five antennas above, one will find the result is about 100 MHz lower than the measurement value. The reason is that when the size of the ground plane is close to the size of the radiating patch, the fringe field of the radiating patch goes into the free space. As a result, the effective relative permittivity calculated is larger than the actual value. V. PRELIMINARY ANIMAL TEST

10 minutes after the capsule was swallowed by the pig, a maximum receiving power at the level of 72 dBm was observed at left side of the pig which indicates the capsule has moved to nearby the left side of the pig. Moving the exterior antenna forward or upward, the received power changes a little bit. Another 10 minutes later, the maximum receiving power is measured near the back leg which shows the capsule has moved to nearby the back leg. The receiving power of the exterior antenna at different places is summarized in Table 3. In this table, F represents moving the exterior antenna forward from the maximum receiving place, while U represents moving upward and B represents moving backward.
TABLE III Received power with the microstip antenna working inside a pig body

Preliminary animal test of the No. 7 antenna has been carried out. Figure 5 shows the hardware configuration of the animal experiment. The inner antenna, an oscillator and two batteries are packaged in a capsule to emulate the smart capsule. The oscillator resonates at 2.45 GHz with output power -10 dBm. The capsule was fed to a live pig. Outside the pigs body, the exterior receiving antenna and a spectrum analyzer connected by 50 coaxial cable is used to measure the radiating power from the inner antenna (show in Figure 6). The exterior antenna sticks on the skin of the pig, different values of the received radiating power from the inner antenna at 2.45 GHz are measured by moving the exterior antenna.

Time

10 min after swallowed by the pig

20 min after swallowed by the pig

Exterior Antenna Location Max: Left side of the pig F 3 cm U 3 cm F 6 cm U 6 cm F 9 cm U 9 cm Max: Near back leg B 3 cm B 6 cm B 9 cm

Receiving Power (dBm) -72 -72 -74 -78 -80 -90 -88 -67 -71 -81 -94

Fig. 5. Hardware configuration of animal test

The raw animal test data show that the loss along the wireless link is about -60 dB. This signal loss is acceptable for a wireless communication system built with some commercial integrated parts designated for short-distance communication. The link loss consists of the inner antenna gain, loss in animal body and exterior antenna gain. When the exterior antenna moves far away from the maximum receiving location, the received power decreased sharply. It illustrates that the body loss is the major factor of the whole wireless link loss. Since the thickness of pig body is obviously much more that of the human body, it is anticipated that the designed antenna will work better for human bodies. Also from the preliminary animal test results, it can be concluded that 5~8 exterior antennas can be used to form an antenna array, and by selecting the exterior antenna, the inner

antenna can always be covered no matter where it is located inside the human body and the wireless link loss can be maintained low. With the exterior antenna array, the designed microstrip antenna is expected to perform excellently in IMDs such as a capsule wireless endoscope system. VI. CONCLUSION

[5]

[6]

[7]

To meet the critical size requirement for the IMD applications, a 10 mm-diameter microstrip antenna is designed and manufactured on F4BK335 microwave substrate (tan = 0.001, r = 3.5, h = 4 mm) through low cost commonly-used PCB process. The shorting pin technique is employed to reduce the antenna size. The theoretical analysis is presented in the paper, including resonating frequency and substrate parameters influence on the antenna performance. The substrate thickness and loss is taken as the most significant design parameters. Both the theoretical analysis and the measurement results on a fabricated antenna show that employing moderate thick microwave substrate with small loss tangent helps to enhance the impedance bandwidth and the gain of the microstrip antenna.

[8]

[9] [10]

[11] [12]

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