Photo Paper Based Microstrip Patch Antenna for Telemedicine Application

This paper proposes a paper-based flexible antenna for an Intrabody Telemedicine application that operates in the 2.4GHz Industrial, Scientific, and Medical radio (ISM) bands. The key features achieved in this antenna are high flexibility and high gain. The antenna utilizes a photo paper substrate of thickness 0.54mm. Patch and ground made of copper with thickness of 0.03mm which enables us to further decrease the overall thickness hence improving flexibility. Computer Simulation Technology (CST) Microwave Studio software was used to design and analyze the antenna's performance. The dimensions of the antenna are 30mm x 32mm. The antenna operates at 2.4GHz during normal conditions. The S11 characteristics were used to assess the antenna performance in both normal and bending circumstances. The analysis for bent conditions were done by phantom muscle testing and plasma testing which evaluates how to antenna behaves when in contact with skin tissues. By bending the antenna at various curvatures, a computational study was performed. The antenna was able to attain a radiation efficiency of up to 70% with a gain of 2.5dB. During the phantom testing, the efficiency achieved was high. Based on this achieved efficiency, the antenna is found to be suitable for telemedicine applications.