Antenna Parameters for On-Body Communications with Wearable and Implantable Antennas

authored by: Lukas Berkelmann, Dirk Manteuffel
Abstract: In this article, redefined antenna parameters regarding the additional effects occurring with on-body propagation are derived to enable a standardized characterization of on-body antennas. A model for the on-body propagation of arbitrary wearable and implantable antennas using Green's functions based on the Norton surface wave theory and the surface equivalence principle is presented, which subsequently is used as an on-body near-field-to-far-field transformation. The defined on-body far-field enables the redefinition of the antenna parameters (gain, effective area, and efficiency) for the on-body case. Based thereon, the antennas can be deembedded from the on-body channel and the on-body link between two antennas can be calculated by an adapted Friis transmission equation similar to free-space propagation. It is demonstrated by two examples, one of a hearing aid antenna and another of an antenna of an implantable pacemaker, that the on-body antenna parameters allow for an educated design of the antennas without the necessity of electromagnetic modeling of the entire system.
Organisation(s): Institute of Microwave and Wireless Systems
Type: Article
Journal: IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation
Volume: 69
Pages: 5377-5387
No. of pages: 11
ISSN: 0018-926X
Publication date: 03.09.2021
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Research Area (based on ÖFOS 2012): Microwave engineering
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.1109/tap.2021.3060944 (Access: Closed)
: Details in the research portal "Research@Leibniz University"

BibTeX

@article{6fef9b7c28e74d76bf2f2eca529aa7f3,
title = "Antenna Parameters for On-Body Communications with Wearable and Implantable Antennas",
abstract = "In this article, redefined antenna parameters regarding the additional effects occurring with on-body propagation are derived to enable a standardized characterization of on-body antennas. A model for the on-body propagation of arbitrary wearable and implantable antennas using Green's functions based on the Norton surface wave theory and the surface equivalence principle is presented, which subsequently is used as an on-body near-field-to-far-field transformation. The defined on-body far-field enables the redefinition of the antenna parameters (gain, effective area, and efficiency) for the on-body case. Based thereon, the antennas can be deembedded from the on-body channel and the on-body link between two antennas can be calculated by an adapted Friis transmission equation similar to free-space propagation. It is demonstrated by two examples, one of a hearing aid antenna and another of an antenna of an implantable pacemaker, that the on-body antenna parameters allow for an educated design of the antennas without the necessity of electromagnetic modeling of the entire system.",
keywords = "antenna de-embedding, Antenna radiation patterns, Antenna theory, Antennas, Body area networks, Dipole antennas, EM theory, implantable antennas, on-body propagation, Surface waves, wearable antennas, Wireless body area networks, Wireless communication, On-body propagation, Wireless body area networks (WBANs), Electromagnetic (EM) theory, Implantable antennas, Antenna deembedding, Wearable antennas",
author = "Lukas Berkelmann and Dirk Manteuffel",
note = "Funding Information: Manuscript received August 26, 2020; revised January 11, 2021; accepted January 26, 2021. Date of publication March 11, 2021; date of current version September 3, 2021. This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungs-gemeinschaft (DFG) under Grant MA 4981/11-1. (Corresponding author: Lukas Berkelmann.) The authors are with the Institute of Microwave and Wireless Systems, Leibniz University Hannover, 30167 Hannover, Germany (e-mail: berkelmann@imw.uni-hannover.de; manteuffel@imw.uni-hannover.de). ",
year = "2021",
month = sep,
day = "3",
doi = "10.1109/tap.2021.3060944",
language = "English",
volume = "69",
pages = "5377--5387",
journal = "IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation",
issn = "0018-926X",
publisher = "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.",
number = "9",
}