On the Sensitivity of Implantable Antenna Performance to Variations in the Electrical Properties of Body Tissues

This study aimed to investigate effects of changes in the electrical properties of body tissues on the performance of implantable antenna. To this end, a miniaturized implantable antenna for biomedical applications with attractive features is proposed. The proposed antenna exhibits a wide bandwidth of 532 MHz covers (401 – 457) MHz and (433.05 – 434.79) MHz bands. Variations in the electrical properties in terms of dielectric permittivity and conductivity of a representative muscle tissue within ± 15% of the reference values at 433 MHz are considered. This range is selected based on the reported variations, in literature, in the muscle tissue electrical properties due to temperature and frequency dependency. Antenna’s input matching and radiation characteristics, and safety concerns in terms of the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) are evaluated. Results of the study can estimate antenna functionality and reliability, considering complexity of the human tissue and variations of its dielectric properties.