Flexible and Compact AMC Based Antenna for Telemedicine Applications

TLDR

The study presents a flexible, compact antenna system for telemedicine applications. The antenna is an M‑shaped printed monopole operating at 2.45 GHz, integrated with a miniaturized slotted Jerusalem Cross AMC ground plane that isolates the body, reduces impedance mismatch, and is evaluated for SAR using a numerical human body model. The design achieves an 18 % impedance bandwidth, an 8 dB increase in front‑to‑back ratio, a 3.7 dB gain boost, and a 64 % SAR reduction, outperforming conventional monopole and dipole antennas and offering a compact, flexible solution for wearable telemedicine.

Abstract

We present a flexible, compact antenna system intended for telemedicine applications. The design is based on an M-shaped printed monopole antenna operating in the Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) 2.45 GHz band integrated with a miniaturized slotted Jerusalem Cross (JC) Artificial Magnetic Conductor (AMC) ground plane. The AMC ground plane is utilized to isolate the user's body from undesired electromagnetic radiation in addition to minimizing the antenna's impedance mismatch caused by the proximity to human tissues. Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) is analyzed using a numerical human body model (HUGO) to assess the feasibility of the proposed design. The antenna expresses 18% impedance bandwidth; moreover, the inclusion of the AMC ground plane increases the front to back ratio by 8 dB, provides 3.7 dB increase in gain, in addition to 64% reduction in SAR. Experimental and numerical results show that the radiation characteristics, impedance matching, and SAR values of the proposed design are significantly improved compared to conventional monopole and dipole antennas. Furthermore, it offers a compact and flexible solution which makes it a good candidate for the wearable telemedicine application.