An Ultrawideband Conformal Capsule Antenna With Stable Impedance Matching

Abstract

An ultrawideband conformal capsule slot antenna, which has a simple configuration and a stable impedance matching characteristic, is described in this paper. In the past, wideband outer-wall antennas have been proposed for capsule-type applications. However, this paper shows that the outer wall is not a good choice for placing capsule antennas, since such a choice exhibits a high specific absorption ratio, low gain, and low efficiency. Instead, the antenna proposed in this paper is conformal to the inner wall of a capsule shell, and it provides a wide impedance bandwidth ranging from 1.64 to 5.95 GHz (113.6%). Furthermore, the impedance matching remains stable even with a change in the operating environment. Since in a typical application scenario a capsule will move through the digestive system, and thus experience varying environments, a wide bandwidth and stable performance are both very desirable attributes of the antenna, whose design is discussed in this paper. Moreover, the proposed antenna continues to maintain a stable impedance match even when a battery is added inside the capsule, or when there is a change in the battery size and/or its position. Given these advantages, we argue that slot antennas are well suited for incorporation into capsule antennas for the present application.