Wideband epidermal antenna for medical radiometry

Abstract

Microwave thermometry is a noninvasive and passive technique for measuring internal body temperature. Wearable compact antennas, matched to the specific body area, are required for this method. We present a new epidermal wideband antenna for medical radiometry. The double asymmetric H-shaped slot antenna was designed to be matched to different parts of the body without fat layers. The slots are fed by a short-circuited microstrip line in order to decrease size and back radiation, thus reducing potential interferences. In this way, contribution to radiometric temperature due to back radiation is lower than 4%, versus the 20% of the volume under investigation, over the whole operating frequency band. The designed prototype was manufactured on a flexible substrate. The antenna is a very small size, to make it comfortable and suitable for being used by patients with different body mass indexes. The double H-shaped antenna shows good wideband matching results from around 1.5 GHz up to 5 GHz, in different body locations such as the neck, foot instep and foot sole.