A 3D-Printed High-Dielectric Filled Elliptical Double-Ridged Horn Antenna for Biomedical Monitoring Applications

Abstract

A novel wideband (WB) 3D-printed elliptical double-ridged horn (EDRH) antenna filled with a high-dielectric material (i.e., a mixture of the paraffin and titanium oxide (TiO2)) is proposed for medical monitoring systems. The antenna has been designed and optimized to operate in the frequency range (2-6 GHz) to satisfy an optimal penetration level and to maintain a WB operation, which results in a high-resolution detection. The proposed antenna is embedded into a high-dielectric material to miniaturize its size and to further reduce the reflections due to mismatch with the body. The antenna was tested on tissue models consisting of two layers (i.e., skin and muscle). The reflection coefficients of the antenna, when it is on the modeled tissue, have been generated and compared with the reference of -6 dB. The obtained results show that the antenna benefits from the 4 GHz of bandwidth with a gain of 5-8 dB within the operating region.

Keywords

• 3D printing
• antenna
• double-ridged horn
• high-dielectric material
• WB