Overcome the body’s negative impact on antenna performance

Background

Enabling someone to be monitored away from a clinical setting has clear advantages, such as patient convenience, as well as the freeing up of medical facilities. The same technology that enables this can also be used to monitor military personnel in the field.

However, for these applications to become widely adopted, body-worn antennas need to be designed for optimal performance in challenging environments (such as on or near the skin).

Until now, this has proven difficult – with antennas worn close to the body being particularly prone to having their performance affected. As the body absorbs some of the antenna’s radiated power, it causes reduced efficiency, distortion in the radiation pattern, and detuning of the antenna.

Previous attempts to overcome these issues included placing the antenna away from the body, but this is often neither practical nor desirable. In order for the potential of this technology to be fully realised, a more elegant solution was essential.

Athlete monitoring and performance

For professional athletes, the ability to accurately measure physical health indicators, such as heartrate and the level of oxygen in the blood, can be crucial during training and competition to determine progress and to flag potential health risks.

It is essential that the antennas are lightweight and allow a full range of motion so as not to inhibit the athlete’s performance.

Medical diagnostics and remote patient monitoring

This technology could provide independence and freedom for patients who need to be closely monitored, allowing them to live safely in their own homes or care facilities while their vital health indicators are monitored remotely, improving their quality of life.

The lightweight and small antenna design significantly reduces disruption to the wearer’s comfort, mobility, and routine, as well as increasing resolution and reliability compared with previous antenna designs.