Abstract

An experimental wireless link and specific absorption rate (SAR) assessment is presented in this work. A compact planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) is designed and evaluated for biotelemetry application as an antenna at 2.45 GHz band. The proposed antenna provided a satisfactory bandwidth per unit volume using a two-layered stacked structure consisting of a high-frequency laminate and a low loss ceramic layer. The antenna was first co-designed inside several different types of phantom boxes to optimize its performance, considering computational resources. Next, a semisolid intestinal phantom model used in simulations were chosen to be fabricated for experimental evaluations. Evaluation results indicated a satisfactory antenna’s operation from 2.13 to 2.81 GHz (bandwidth of 27.8%), with realized gains of −26.49 dBi when implanted at 45 mm inside the phantom. Next, measurements were performed on the antenna’s communication link with a wearable antenna to study the effects its depth (from 10 to 45mm), indicating transmission coefficients of between −40 and −60 dB at 2.45 GHz. Finally, its SAR levels are evaluated experimentally using a commercial measurement system when implanted within the human tissue. Results indicated satisfactory level of 0.685 W/kg (averaged over 10 g of tissues) and is suitable for biotelemetry application.