Miniaturized E-shaped PIFA antenna for wideband implantable biomedical applications

This paper presents an implantable miniaturised printed E-shaped PIFA antenna for biomedical applications at 2.4 GHz. The design and measured results for the proposed antenna suitable for implanting either in the arm or under the chest are presented. Simulations are conducted using both homogeneous and inhomogeneous phantoms to help to design the proposed antenna. The measured results are obtained by immersing a prototype of the proposed antenna in a phantom that consists of meat-mixture. The antenna is fed by a coaxial probe and optimizes the placement of shorting pin to obtain superior performance. The antenna occupies a volume less than 1cm³ without the biocompatible insulation and its size reduction is about 60% compared to the standard E-shaped patch antenna reported in the literature.