Implantable High-Gain Dental Antennas for Minimally Invasive Biomedical Devices

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel antenna for dental implants. The proposed antenna can be attached to minimally invasive biomedical devices to monitor health conditions. Based on a combination of Archimedean spirals and a Hilbert-based curve, this 3D folded antenna was embedded on a ceramic denture $({\rm ZrO}_{2})$ , and operates within the medical radio (MedRadio) band. An omnidirectional radiation pattern was obtained from simulations of human models to eliminate specific orientation dependence. A realistic measurement of an oral cavity was also performed under the Institutional Review Board (IRB) protocol to evaluate its practical biomedical effects. A miniature antenna with a total area of less than 245 ${\rm mm}^{2}$ was designed and implemented. The measured performance achieved an antenna gain of $-$ 6.78 dBi, and had an impedance bandwidth of approximately 60 MHz. Therefore, a compact high-gain antenna with a large bandwidth was achieved.