Analysis of tissue-coupled antennas for UHF intra-body communications

For the first time, FDTD analysis was used to investigate the two-port coupling between tissue-implanted thin-wire dipole antennas. Two scenarios were considered for human applications: coupling between the neck and the abdomen, and between the neck and the pectoral region. The simulation results show that 15-mm dipole antennas coated with a low loss dielectric can be used to establish a communication link within the human body at frequencies between 300 MHz and 1.5 GHz. For example, the peak value of |S₂₁| for the abdomen scenario was -82.3 dB at 840 MHz, while it was -74.1 dB at 1.31 GHz for the pectoral scenario.