A Mie resonant antenna with high sensitivity for force and strain measurement

Abstract

We demonstrate the experimental and simulated performances of a Mie resonant antenna for force sensing with high sensitivity for compressive force and strain measurements inside soft materials. The proposed sensor is compatible with biological specimens and has small dimensions. It comprises a pair of dielectric cubes and an elastic layer of silicone rubber. The applied force is determined by measuring the redshift of the operating frequency when a mechanical load applied. Both simulated and experimental results demonstrate that the relationship between the frequency shift of the sensor and the applied compressive load could be fitted well using a quadratic equation with a maximum fitting error less than 17%, which enables highly sensitive telemetric force measurements to be performed inside structures by observing the operating frequency shift. The proposed design provides a simple and low-cost approach to realizing highly-efficient telemetric measurement inside soft materials such as biological tissues.