Wireless Medical Telemetry Characterization for Ingestible Capsule Antenna Designs

Abstract

This letter presents a comprehensive and systematic antenna performance evaluation and wireless medical telemetry characterization between two different ingestible antenna designs, an inverted conical helical antenna and a reference conformal meandered offset dipole antenna. The antenna performance comparison matrix includes matching, radiation patterns, and polarization. Both these antennas are independently characterized inside a human body environment (box-model human). Specific absorption rate (SAR) evaluations are described, and finally a link budget is developed for both the antenna systems based on certain parameters (frequency, power limitations) with the goal of establishing a reliable communication link for indoor communication for biotelemetry applications.