1260 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 69, NO.
3, MARCH 2021
Quadrilateral Spatial Diversity Circularly Polarized
MIMO Cubic Implantable Antenna System
for Biotelemetry
Vikrant Kaim , Graduate Student Member, IEEE, Binod Kumar Kanaujia , Senior Member, IEEE,
and Karumudi Rambabu , Member, IEEE
Abstract— This article presents a first of its kind, coplanar
waveguide (CPW)-fed 3-D multi-input-multi-output (MIMO)
ground radiating cubic antenna (CA), implantable in the human
upper arm for biotelemetry applications. The four antenna
elements are circular in shape and loaded with a pair of
slots to obtain circular polarization (CP). It excites diversified
CP radiation in Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band
2.45 and 5.8 GHz in orthogonal space to establish communication
between the human body moving in random directions and base-
station. The overall dimensions of the proposed antenna are
15 × 15 × 15 mm3 . Monitoring circuit PCB is placed at the
top, and the bottom side of the cube and central hollow space
is filled with a dry solid phantom for impedance matching. The
CA is simulated in the vicinity of the canonical arm tissue model
in HFSS software and examined in a realistic human model. The
far-field gain is −18.5 dB with −32 dB isolation between elements.
The CA is fabricated, and measurements are carried out in skin-
fat-muscle phantom and minced pork. Simulated results closely
match with measured results. The results show that the proposed
CA is polarization and 3-D orientation insensitive and provides
good MIMO properties. The low SAR value of the CA allows
maximum transmit power of 5.81 mW, makes it a suitable choice
to transfer high data rate (200 Mb/s) to an external antenna
of diverse polarization. These features make CA an attractive
solution for real-time healthcare applications.
Index Terms— 3-D multi-input-multi-output (MIMO), circular
polarization (CP), cubic antenna (CA), data telemetry, external
antenna (EA), implantable antenna, Industrial, Scientific, and
Medical (ISM) band, polarization diversity, spatial diversity.
I. I NTRODUCTION
T ODAY, world population growth with the demographic
peak of baby boomers leading to an aging population
has overloaded the existing conventional healthcare systems
and significantly worsened the quality of life with rising
Manuscript received March 20, 2020; revised July 17, 2020; accepted
July 23, 2020. Date of publication August 19, 2020; date of current version
March 3, 2021. This work was supported by the Council of Scientific and
Industrial Research (CSIR) under SRF Grant-09/263 (1181)/2019-EMR-I.
(Corresponding author: Binod Kumar Kanaujia.)
Vikrant Kaim and Binod Kumar Kanaujia are with the School of
Computational and Integrative Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University,
New Delhi 110067, India (e-mail: vikran16_sit@jnu.ac.in; bkkanaujia@
ieee.org).
Karumudi Rambabu is with the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2V4, Canada (e-mail:
rambabu@ualberta.ca).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this article are available
online at https://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TAP.2020.3016483
0018-926X © 2020 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See https://www.ieee.org/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
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in healthcare costs [1]. This dramatic shift requires modern
healthcare systems to be more affordable with scalable solu-
tions. A key solution to this should be through a wireless
body area network (WBAN) that should operate in the vicin-
ity of the human body [2]. This network allows ubiquitous
monitoring of biological and physiological parameters of
the human body, which can be achieved using low power
nanotechnology-enabled implantable medical devices (IMDs).
IMDs should be designed considering its robust biocom-
patibility, impedance matching, miniaturization, and efficient
wireless communication along with specific absorption rate
(SAR) compatibility [3].
The implantable antenna connects the IMDs wirelessly with
an external base-station antenna. Several types of antenna
designs have been worked upon already to meet the require-
ments of implantable antennas [3], [4], and many more have
come up lately, but all of them are of single-input-single-output
(SISO) configuration. Since biotelemetry applications majorly
require indoor propagation of wireless channels, thus renders
it to multipath reflections [5]. As SISO configuration does
not provide immunity to multipath reflections and also are
not independent of spatial diversity, thereby hinders efficient
wireless communication with an external antenna (EA). There-
fore, multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) antenna technology
emerges out with a great potential of addressing the drawbacks
of SISO configuration with improved channel capacity [6].
Moreover, modern biotelemetry applications such as image
sensors require high-quality images with a data-rate of more
than 78 Mb/s [7]. Therefore, MIMO configuration is the viable
alternative to achieve a data-rate of more than 100 Mb/s up to
long distances (10 m) [8]. The SISO antenna topology could
not achieve such a high data-rate effectively for long distances
with a low input power of −4 dBm [7].
Many authors have successfully explored the MIMO
antenna technology for WBAN wearable applications
in [9]–[13]. In [9], a high impedance surface (HIS)-based
circular MIMO antenna is designed. In [10] and [11],
the ground radiation circular polarization (CP) MIMO
antenna and single-layer textile MIMO antenna are designed,
respectively. In [12] and [13], ultra-wideband (UWB)
and millimeter-wave MIMO antenna have been designed,
respectively. In the above applications, the authors concluded
that the design of MIMO antennas encounters a significant
 KAIM et al.: QUADRILATERAL SPATIAL DIVERSITY CIRCULARLY POLARIZED MIMO CUBIC IMPLANTABLE ANTENNA SYSTEM 1261

challenge to alleviate the mutual coupling between antenna

elements in a restricted antenna system’s footprint.
Since MIMO antennas have already been explored
considerably for on-body wearable biotelemetry applications,
exploring MIMO antennas for in-body implantable bioteleme-
try applications is a logical extension. In view of the same,
only two publications have come up to the best of the author’s
knowledge [14], [15]. Hence, the MIMO technique has not
been explored quantitatively for implantable applications.
In [14], a dual antenna system has been worked upon in the
401–406 MHz MedRadio frequency band for biotelemetry
devices. The spiral radiator with a helix line achieved
miniaturization with wide-impedance characteristics. In [15],
four-element MIMO antenna has been worked upon for IMDs
using electromagnetic bandgap (EBG)-based metasurface
in 2.4 GHz Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band. Fig. 1. Application diagram of body-centric wireless communication (edited
In the above-mentioned on-body (wearables) and in-body original image from clipart station).
(IMDs) biotelemetry applications, besides being the valid
candidate, the performance of the MIMO antenna systems still
TABLE I
lack far behind in terms of polarization diversity, spatial diver-
C OMPARISON OF THE P ROPOSED A NTENNA W ITH R EPORTED A NTENNAS
sity, dual-band operation, and immunity to multipath reflec-
tions. All the above-mentioned MIMO antenna systems have
a planar profile and operate in a single band without diver-
sified CP in orthogonal space. Hence, it could not overcome
possible multipath reflections (indoor propagation) in modern
medical applications, recently demonstrated in [16] and [17]
that require sensing of wandering patterns and freezing of
gait detection in patients who have dementia and Parkinson’s
disease. Moreover, it leaves no possibility for high-speed data
transfer. Hence, for implantable applications, there is a need
for a nonplanar MIMO antenna system that should be spatial
and CP diversified in orthogonal directions. The design can
overcome multipath reflections and communicate effectively
with the external base-station systems like multipolarized
reconfigurable antenna developed in [18] for the wireless
biomedical network.
In this article, a quadrilateral spatial diversified CP 3-D
MIMO cubic implantable antenna system has been designed to
operate at IEEE 802.11 standard 2.45 and 5.8 GHz for wireless
data transfer. These bands are chosen in this work as both
the bands are unlicensed, universal, and interoperable with
high gain. CP of antenna has better immunity to misalignment
issues than a linearly polarized antenna. Cubic antenna (CA) CA system can communicate in LHCP and RHCP signals with
configuration is adopted to get dual benefits. Since, in planar external base-station antennas along the direct or indirect path
MIMO antenna configurations, isolation between elements is in orthogonal directions. Hence, it could achieve 360◦ spatial
achieved at the cost of large footprints; therefore, the first ben- and polarization diversity in orthogonal directions and has the
efit is, cubic geometry prevents the need of extra structures to edge over their planar counterparts [19]. Note, Xu et al. [20]
achieve isolation and thus, alleviates mutual coupling to a great have designed a conformal MIMO loop antenna for ingestible
extent. It also provides physical compactness, most desirable applications, but the results are still in the preliminary stage,
in this work for implantable applications compared to planar and the design is not CP diversified. To the best of the author’s
counterparts. The second benefit is, it overcomes the menace knowledge, this kind of work involving CA configuration
of signal fading due to polarization mismatch in one of the to achieve mainly CP diversity in orthogonal directions has
possible scenarios of body-centric wireless communication, not been studied before for implantable applications; hence,
as shown in Fig. 1, where no clear line-of-sight (LOS) could it justifies the novelty of the proposed work. Table I shows the
be established between the transmitter and the receiver. The comparison of our proposed work with the already developed
multipath fading effect irrespective of polarization mismatch MIMO antennas for implantable applications.
could be overcome by utilizing omnidirectional planar MIMO This article consists of six sections, organized as follows.
antennas that provide spatial diversity. However, the proposed Section I presents the introduction and motivation for the

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 1262
Fig. 2. Exploded schematic of the CA configuration.
proposed work. Section II presents the proposed CA synthesis
followed by design and operating mechanism. Section III
elaborates the simulation and measurement scenario and com-
pares the respective results. In the surrounding environment,
impedance stability and biocompatibility is also analyzed.
Section IV validates the MIMO performance and polarization
diversity in orthogonal space. Section V evaluates SAR and the
communication link characteristic for high data-rate, followed
by the conclusion in Section VI.
II. I MPLANTABLE 3-D MIMO C UBIC A NTENNA D ESIGN
A. Antenna Synthesis
In the 3-D MIMO CA, quad antenna elements are designed
on four faces of a cube of size 15 × 15 × 15 mm3 .
Cube is filled with custom made cube-shaped phantom made
of solid ATE (Artificial Tissue Emulating) material bearing
electrical properties with a relative dielectric constant (εr ),
30–40, and conductivity (σ ) 1–10 S/m across the band
500 MHz–10 GHz. Since this solid dry phantom would stay
inside the CA implanted in the human body for a long time,
therefore, it needed to overcome the hydration drawbacks of
the liquid gel and semisolid ATE materials. This solid phantom
is prepared by following the steps mentioned in [21, Fig. 10].
We filled the CA with this phantom since it is dry and not
water-based, which can sustain over a long period without
changing its shape and stay intact with no defect in its electri-
cal properties. The cube is made of RT Duroid 5880 substrate
(εr = 2.2 and tanδ = 0.0009) of a thickness (h) 0.508 mm, and
the top and bottom sides of a cube are left opened without any
faces to accommodate circuit PCB chips of thickness 2 mm,
each having monitoring circuits as shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 3
presents the geometrical design of the CA element (CAE)
of the proposed CA, which is placed on faces-1, 2 and the
opposite configuration of CAE on faces-3, 4 of a cube. CAE-i
(i = 1, 2, 3, 4) belongs to cubic face-i. Physical dimensions are
provided in Table II. All the four antenna elements are circular
in the shape of the radius (R) 5.2 mm with a single layer of
copper only acting as ground with a coplanar metal strip in the
middle acting as a patch. The circular ground plane consists
of a vertical rectangular slot (9.5 × 2.3 mm2 ) and two more
rectangular slots (4.25 × 1.4 mm2 ) breaking the symmetry of
the ground plane. A patch strip (8.2 × 1.1 mm2 ) meandered
in the shape of the alphabetical letter “S” is integrated into
the center of the ground plane. A horizontal rectangular slit
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 69, NO. 3, MARCH 2021
Fig. 3. Schematic of the CAE (set-A).
TABLE II
D ESIGN PARAMETERS OF THE P ROPOSED A NTENNA E LEMENT ( IN mm)
(0.85 × 0.3 mm2 ) is made in the patch strip near the feed
point (G 3 ) for impedance matching. Antenna elements are
excited through a coplanar feed, maintaining a gap of 0.3 mm
between meandered patch strip and circular ground.
B. Design Mechanism
Fig. 4(a) shows the proposed CAE-i design evolution from
Ant-0 to Ant-3 and the corresponding simulated reflection
coefficient (|S11 |) and axial-ratio (AR) of CAE-1 only, for
brevity, as shown in Fig. 4(b). Note, all the CAE-i placed
on cubic face-i are evolved simultaneously, and the simu-
lated and measured results shown for CAE-1 further in this
article applies to all other CAEs unless stated. In Ant-0,
we have placed two circuit PCBs (PEC) at the top and bottom
position of the cubic substrate. Note, the bottom PEC sheet
is connected to the ground of all the CAEs by 0.2 mm-thick
copper strip. The central hollow space in the cube is filled with
air. Ant-0 resonates at two frequencies (3.5 and 6.5 GHz) with
linearly polarized radiation. The lower frequency is excited
due to the combined length of the patch strip and half of
the rectangular slot in the ground, and the higher frequency is
excited due to only half of the rectangular slot. Here, the patch
strip is acting as a monopole, which can be approximated with
linear wire antenna so that the resonant frequency of this patch
strip could become a function of its overall size, length, and
geometry [22]. At both the resonance, the respective current
path length is λg /4, where λg is the wavelength in the medium.
 KAIM et al.: QUADRILATERAL SPATIAL DIVERSITY CIRCULARLY POLARIZED MIMO CUBIC IMPLANTABLE ANTENNA SYSTEM
Fig. 4. (a) Design evolution of the proposed CA. (b) Simulated |S11 | and
AR plot of CAE-1 for Ant-0 to Ant-3 (proposed).
To achieve resonance with CP radiation at the desired ISM
band frequencies, Ant-1 is designed. It resonates at 2.5 and
5.5 GHz with AR = 3.1 and 2 dB at 2.45 and 6.2 GHz,
respectively. Note, frequency miniaturization is achieved by
introducing meandered sections in the patch strip and two
additional rectangular slots in the ground by lengthening the
respective current paths at both the resonances. Rectangular
slots also generate CP radiation close to the resonating fre-
quencies by splitting fundamental mode in the two frequency
bands into two near-degenerate orthogonal modes and the
asymmetric position of two slots with respect to each other
induces phase quadrature between the two orthogonal modes.
Additionally, in Ant-1, we have added custom-made dry
solid phantom in the cubic hollow space and introduced a
rectangular slit in patch strip for impedance matching. Note,
the suitability of using solid phantom for impedance matching
is discussed further in Section III.
To achieve AR < 3 dB at both the desired resonating
frequencies, Ant-2 is designed where two rectangular slots
are optimized. It provides AR = 0.5 and 4.6 dB at 2.45 and
5.8 GHz, respectively. After optimizing these slots, lower band
shifts to 2.8 GHz and upper band shifts to 5 GHz. Since the
middle section of meandered patch strip is controlling the
lower band, top and bottom sections controlling the upper
band, therefore, Ant-3 is designed, where middle meandered
section in “S”-shaped patch strip is elongated, and top–bottom
sections are de-meandered (as compared to Ant-1) to achieve
the desired resonance at 2.5 and 5.8 GHz. Two rectangular
slots are optimized further to achieve AR = 0.8 and 0.7 dB at
2.45 and 6 GHz with 3 dB AR bandwidths well covered in the
respective impedance bandwidths. Elongated and demeandered
sections, lengthens and shortens the current paths, respectively.
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1263
Fig. 5. Surface current distribution of CAE-1 for different time phases (ωt).
Hence, Ant-3 is the final geometry of the CAE-i in the
proposed CA.
C. Operating Mechanism
Each CAE-i is designed to operate at two fundamental
resonant frequencies of 2.45 and 5.8 GHz. The radiation in
the two frequency bands is circularly polarized. The detailed
explanation of resonating lengths and the cause of CP
radiations for the two resonating frequencies have been given
in our previous work [23]. The geometrical design of the
CAE shown in Fig. 3 generates RHCP radiation at 2.45 GHz
and LHCP radiation at 5.8 GHz. The design of this antenna
element is denoted as set-A (see Fig. 2). By interchanging
the position of two rectangular slots along the sides of the
centerline of the ground plane and by changing the orientation
of “S”-shaped patch strip [see Fig. 4(a)], it generates LHCP
radiation at 2.45 GHz and RHCP radiation at 5.8 GHz. The
design of this antenna element is denoted as set-B.
To visualize the CP operation, the surface current
distribution is plotted on CAE-1 of set-A for four different
time phases (ωt = 0◦ , 90◦ , 180◦ , and 270◦ ) at 2.45 and 5.8
GHz, as shown in Fig. 5. The rotation of electric current
(yellow arrows) on the ground plane can be seen traveling
from patch strip to ground near the feed point for ωt = 0◦ ,
and the minimas (pink dashed line) align itself in such a
manner that as time phase progresses by quarter length up to
ωt = 270◦ , electric current rotates in anticlockwise direction
(highlighted by black arrows) for an observer facing the
aperture of CAE-1 which shows set-A antenna provides
RHCP radiation at 2.45 GHz. A similar explanation applies
for LHCP radiation at 2.45 GHz from antenna element of
set-B. For resonating frequency of 5.8 GHz, surface current
rotates in the clockwise direction for an observer facing the
aperture of the CAE-1 which shows set-A antenna provides
LHCP radiation at 5.8 GHz. A similar explanation applies for
RHCP radiation at 5.8 GHz from antenna element of set-B.
So, to meet the CP diversity in spatial quadrature in two
ISM bands, we have proposed a 3-D MIMO CA system in
which we have placed antenna element of set-A on faces-1, 2,
and antenna element of set-B on faces-3, 4 of a cube,
as shown in Fig. 2. Placement of antenna elements in this
manner generates RHCP radiation at 2.45 and 5.8 GHz in the
 1264
Fig. 6. Diverse CP radiation from the CA in orthogonal space at 2.45 and
5.8 GHz.
TABLE III
S IGNAL Q UALITY C OMPARISON W ITH VARIOUS P OLARIZATIONS
direction of faces-1, 2 and faces-3, 4, respectively, whereas
LHCP radiation at 5.8 and 2.45 GHz in the direction of
faces-1, 2 and faces-3, 4, respectively, as shown in Fig. 6.
In this manner, we can mitigate the probable constraints
(multipath reflections) for the general implantable SISO planar
antenna as the proposed MIMO CA would not need an EA
(outside the body) with specific polarization, at a fixed location
in a room to communicate. Table III presents the received sig-
nal quality of the CA for various polarizations of the EA [18].
III. S IMULATION A ND M EASUREMENT
A. Simulation Setup
The CA is synthesized using commercially available full-
wave FEM-based Ansys HFSS (v 19.3) software in the
frequency domain. In the electromagnetic (EM) simulator,
the CA design is started through Ant-0 [see Fig. 4(a)] by
placing it at the center in a cylindrical model [Fig. 7(a)] of
simplified homogeneous single layer tissue (skin) of the human
upper arm, and all the antenna elements are excited using the
lumped port for simplicity. Cylindrical arm model (radius =
50 mm and height = 300 mm) is enclosed in a radiation
box of size 310 × 110 × 110 mm3 . The radius (50 mm)
of the cylindrical model from the center of a MIMO cube
ensures sufficient distance for half-wavelength propagation for
frequency, f ≥ 2.45 GHz, and εr = 37.88. In a single layer
model, we obtained Ant-1, and the canonical homogeneous
multilayer tissue (skin-fat-muscle) arm model [Fig. 7(b)] is
utilized to obtain Ant-2. Subsequently, the final optimized
geometry of the proposed CA (Ant-3) is obtained. Since the
human upper arm is the operating place, therefore, it can be
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 69, NO. 3, MARCH 2021
Fig. 7. (a) One-layer model (simplified). (b) Three-layer model (canonical).
(c) Realistic body model (AustinMan). (d) Simulated |S11 | and AR plot of
CA (with bone).
modeled as muscle tissue only for the single-layer model.
The electrical properties of 2/3 muscle equivalent phantom at
2.45 GHz is εr = 35.15 and σ = 1.16 S/m [24] which is close
to human skin (εr = 37.88 and σ = 1.44 S/m). In contrast,
muscles have εr = 52.73 and σ = 1.74 S/m; therefore,
we prefer to use the electrical properties of skin tissue for
the single-layer model and skin-fat-muscle for the canonical
model, for radius values of tissue models, see Table II [5].
It is to be noted, in the canonical arm model, the bone
tissue layer is not included specifically for two reasons. First,
inclusion of bone layer could disturb the central placement
(symmetricity) of the CA in arm model during simulation.
Thus, it increases simulation time to more than 7 h/simulation
run (in computer with 24 GB RAM). Second, avoiding
bone layer provides symmetrical geometry of arm model
allowing characterization of CA radiation performance under
well-controlled isotropic conditions.
But to observe the extent of detuning occurs due to the
presence of bone on the CA performance, we plotted simulated
|S11 | and AR of the proposed CA, as shown in Fig. 7(d),
when the bone tissue layer (Rbone = 10 mm) is included at
the center in the muscle layer of the canonical model facing
CAE-3. CA is placed off-centered in the muscle layer at an
implantable depth of 30 mm from the surface of the skin layer.
 KAIM et al.: QUADRILATERAL SPATIAL DIVERSITY CIRCULARLY POLARIZED MIMO CUBIC IMPLANTABLE ANTENNA SYSTEM
TABLE IV
D IELECTRIC P ROPERTIES OF T ISSUE L AYERS
It is observed that resonant frequency for |S11 | in 5.8 GHz
band and AR in 2.45 GHz band shift slightly to a higher
frequency with degradation in AR and impedance value in
both the ISM bands. This discrepancy is due to the close
presence of extra tissue layer (bone) having lower permittivity,
compared to muscle in the vicinity of the proposed CA. But
this deviation is not a serious concern and can be optimized
easily by CAEs dimensions.
Since the CA needed to perform at 2.45 and 5.8 GHz,
so electrical properties of tissue layers corresponding to both
the frequencies should be embedded in the canonical arm
model. In view of the same, we adopted a novel approach
in our work of using the dielectric properties of arm model
tissue layers correspond to the lowest frequency of interest
in the required wide frequency range [25]. In this approach,
we have used dielectric properties at 2.45 GHz only (more
than the average value of properties at 2.45 and 5.8 GHz)
and sweep the frequency from 1 to 7 GHz in simulation.
The electrical properties of the skin, fat, muscle, and bone
at 2.45 and 5.8 GHz, referenced from [26], have been
given in Table IV, which shows relative dielectric constant
is inversely proportional to frequency, and conductivity is
directly proportional to frequency. In this manner, impedance
matching of CA at the highest overall electrical properties
(εr = 37.88, 5.28, and 52.73) of tissue layers in the required
frequency range compensates for the increased antenna
mismatch loss due to deviation in electrical properties at the
frequency, f ≥ 2.45 GHz.
After obtaining the final optimized geometry of the pro-
posed CA (Ant-3) in canonical arm model with desired radi-
ation performance, we also carried out simulations to observe
detuning in the proposed antenna’s radiation performance in an
anatomical environment of a heterogeneous voxel-based model
of the human arm (AustinMan v 2.6) as shown in Fig. 7(c),
developed from the National Library of Medicine’s Visible
Human Project data set [27]. Note, during the simulation,
antenna is placed off-centered in voxel arm model at an
implantable depth of 30 mm due to the presence of bone in
the realistic model. Here, numerical analyses are conducted
using CST Microwave Studio Suite, using CST (.vox + .lat)
files. The.vox file was imported into CST using the “voxel
data option.” The model data is contained in the.lat file,
and we changed the EM properties of the selected tissues
corresponding to 2.45 GHz using [26].
B. Measurement Setup
To validate the simulated results, we measured the fabricated
prototype of the proposed CA using the Agilent N9914A PNA
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1265
Fig. 8. (a) Fabricated CA prototype showing size comparison.
(b) Far-field measurement setup with connecting cables and matched termi-
nals. (c) Near-field measurement in three-layer phantom and pork.
network analyzer, as shown in Fig. 8. In Fig. 8(a), we can see,
the physical volume of the fabricated CA (IMD) is only ≈17%
of the cubic IMDs designed successfully in [28] and [29],
where the physical dimensions are (62 × 35× 7.8 mm3 ) and
(54× 31 ×11 mm3 ), respectively. Hence, we believe the phys-
ical size of the proposed CA is fit for muscle implantation. The
measurement procedure is approximately in accordance with
the simulated one, and the dummy circuit PCBs are made of
aluminum sheet. The CA performance is measured in-vitro and
in-vivo conditions by placing it at the center within a semisolid
phantom (gel) and minced pork, respectively [Fig. 8(c)]. Note,
the value of |S11 | is measured in both phantom and pork while
the isolation (near-field), AR, and radiation pattern (far-field)
measurements are carried out for the phantom only. Cylindrical
plastic container (diameter = 80 mm and height = 100 mm) is
filled with the skin-fat-muscle mimicking phantom similar to
the canonical model in Fig. 7(b). This multilayer phantom is
prepared using semisolid, gel-based ATE materials using the
steps mentioned in [21, Fig. 9]. These materials are capable of
conforming to any shape independently, and no osmosis occurs
between adjacent layers when multiple layers are placed one
after another, like in Fig. 7(b). The electrical properties of skin-
fat-muscle mimicking phantom layers match approximately
with the properties given in [21, Table I]. Note, all the four
ports of the CA are given power using the subminiature molex
surface mount plug (SMP) with 50  impedance (part no.
853050232), where one port at a time is excited while other
ports are terminated with 50  matched termination. Adapter
cables (part no. SLB220-SMPF-SMAF-6”) from Agilent Tech-
nologies are used for SMP-to-SMA interface [Fig. 8(b)].
Fig. 9 shows the simulated and measured |S11 | of the
proposed CA for CAE-1 only for brevity, but measurements
 1266
Fig. 9. Comparison of simulated and measured |S11 | and AR plot of CAE-1.
Fig. 10. Simulated peak gain for co- and x-pol CP of CAEs and measured
total gain plot of CA.
are taken for each CAE-i at a time, while other CAE ports are
terminated with 50  loads. The simulated −10 dB impedance
bandwidth of CAE-1 is from 2.1–3 and 5.1–6.6 GHz. The mea-
sured bandwidth in phantom matches closely with simulation.
Though slight variations arise due to fabrication and soldering
tolerances and utilization of interface adapter cables. In pork,
resonance in both the bands shift to lower frequency with
bandwidths 2–2.6 GHz and 3.3–beyond 8 GHz, which com-
pletely covers the required ISM bands. The broad bandwidth in
pork owes to the deviation in εr and σ of the minced pork from
the parameters in the simulation [30]. The air gap between
the antenna and the minced pork also contributes to the
multiple resonances that lead to broad bandwidth. However,
still, measurements in pork samples have given satisfactory
results for the initial stage assessment.
The simulated AR in Fig. 9 shows that 3 dB AR bandwidth
of CAE-1 is from 2.1–3 and 5.8–6.3 GHz. The measured
3 dB bandwidth in phantom matches closely with the sim-
ulated bandwidth with slight discrepancies due to measure-
ment procedure complexity. Fig. 10 shows the simulated
(co- and × − pol) peak gain of all CAEs, where ×−pol is
30 dB lower than the maximum co-pol gain of −18.5 dBc at
2.45 and 5.8 GHz in broadside direction of antenna elements.
The measured total peak gain (in Fig. 10) of CAE-1 shows
similar behavior and close agreement with the simulated
one, though variations can be attributed to the measurement
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Fig. 11. (a) Comparison of simulated |S11 | and AR plot of CAE-1 in different
simulation tissue models. (b) Comparison of simulated and measured isolation
plot between CAEs.
procedure adopted in an anechoic chamber involving long
cables. Fig. 11(a) shows the comparison of simulated |S11 | and
AR of the proposed CAE-1 of Ant-3 for canonical and realistic
arm models. It also compares CAE-1 of Ant-1 in a simplified
model, just for reference. Resonant frequency for both |S11 |
and AR in the realistic model shifts to the lower side due to the
high εr value of surrounding tissues, but shifting in the higher
band is more (1 dB) due to high path loss at higher frequencies.
In the realistic model, impedance bandwidth is not changed
significantly, but AR bandwidth narrows. Fig. 11(b) shows
the simulated and measured isolation between different CAEs.
Mutual coupling between CAEs-1, 2 is highest at 5.8 GHz
(−32 dB), whereas coupling among other CAEs is −37 and
−40 dB at 2.45 and 5.8 GHz. The measured coupling results
match closely with the simulated results. Hence, all the CAEs
in the proposed CA do not couple together and could guarantee
the MIMO performance.
Fig. 12 shows the simulated and measured radiation pattern
for CAE-1 only in phantom at 2.45 and 5.8 GHz. The
measured radiation pattern is rotated slightly compared to the
simulated one, but still, maximum gain matches closely at
2.45 GHz. However, it decreases to some extent at 5.8 GHz,
 KAIM et al.: QUADRILATERAL SPATIAL DIVERSITY CIRCULARLY POLARIZED MIMO CUBIC IMPLANTABLE ANTENNA SYSTEM 1267

Fig. 12. Comparison of simulated and measured 2-D radiation pattern plot
of CAE-1.

compared to gain value (−18.5 dB) in simulation (θ = 0◦ )

at both frequencies. It is noticed, this variation arises due to
rotating stand on which cylindrical container is placed, but
the patterns show similar behavior in phantom, compared to
simulated one, depicting maximum radiation is emitting from
CAE-1 in desired off-body direction.

C. Dielectric Loaded Impedance Matching

In the case of the proposed CA system, two interfaces
contribute to the reflections at the designing stage in the
simulator. The first interface is between body tissues (εr1 , σ1 )
in the vicinity of the CA and biocompatible layer (εr3 , σ3 ) on
the CA surface. Note, the biocompatibility of the proposed
CA is discussed further in this section. The second interface
is between the biocompatible layer and cubic hollow space
filled with dry solid phantom (εr2 , σ2 ), as shown in Fig. 13(a).
Since substrate (εr = 2.2) has minimal effect on antenna’s
performance in the vicinity of lossy (high εr ) body tissues;
therefore, its effect is not taken into account while match-
ing the antenna’s impedance with body tissues [31]. From
Fig. 13(b), it can be seen that dry solid phantom improves
impedance matching in both the resonating bands by matching
media at both the interfaces.
In this study, widely available ceramic zirconia material Fig. 13. (a) Schematic showing interfaces between CA and dissipative
biological tissue. (b) Comparison of simulated |S11 | plot of CA with and
is considered as a biocompatible insulating layer, with a without solid phantom. (c) Comparison of simulated |S11 | and AR plot of
thickness (s) 0.05 mm, due to its high dielectric constant CAE-1 for different thickness values of zirconia layer.
(εr3 = 27) as compared to other biocompatible materials such
as Teflon, MACOR, ceramic alumina, PEEK, and Silastic
MDX-4210. The approach of selecting biocompatible layer the effect of thickness of the zirconia layer on the CA
and loaded dry phantom of high dielectric constant is to performance has been analyzed and compared with the
make it comparable as εr1 (37.88) ≈ εr2 (30–40) ≈ εr3 (27), simulated |S11 | and the AR in Fig. 13(c) for CAE-1 only.
so that the waves propagating from the CAEs toward body From the results, it can be seen that AR is not changing
tissues could not face much discontinuity in permittivity significantly in both the bands, but the frequency shift to the
values at the two interfaces and could lead to impedance lower side in the higher band. However, the impedance value
matching with improved impedance bandwidths in the in both the bands degrades with increasing thickness of the
frequency bands. Note, in place of dry phantom, glycerin zirconia layer. Hence, s ≤ 0.05 mm can provide the optimum
(εr = 50) or pure water (εr = 78) could also be used as performance of the proposed CA as performance degrades
reported in [32] and [33], respectively, but due to its hydration for s > 0.05 mm with controllable deviation.
drawbacks it could not sustain for long period required for
implantable applications. By choosing a high permittivity IV. MIMO P ERFORMANCE
biocompatible material for an insulator, one can increase The feasibility of the diversity performance of CAEs in the
the robustness of the antenna. But high permittivity ceramic proposed MIMO CA is analyzed by the envelope correlation
zirconia material is not cost-effective [25]. Additionally, coefficients (ECCs) among CAE-i. ECC < 0.5 gives the

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 1268
TABLE V
ECC VALUES OF MIMO CAE S
Fig. 14. 3-D radiation patterns of individual CAEs.
acceptable performance of any MIMO system. MIMO perfor-
mance degrades with the increase in ECC value when radiated
fields from two antennas strongly interact with each other.
ECC (ιi j ) values have been calculated from the measured
radiation pattern using (1) [34], [35] in a three-layer phantom,
where XPR is the measure of the cross-polarization ratio of the
incident field, defined as XPR = PV /PH . PV and PH are the
average power along θ and φ, respectively. E θ i and E φi are
the complex envelopes of θ and φ components of the radiated
far-field, respectively, when only the i th-port is excited, and
other ports are terminated with 50  loads. Pθ and Pφ are
the probability of distributions of the incident power on the
antenna in θ - and φ-directions respectively.  is the solid
angle. Taking PV = PH for an isotropic environment, where
XPR = 1 and Pθ = Pφ = 1/4 π. Table V shows the simulated
and calculated ECC values, which are much less than 0.5 in
both 2.45 and 5.8 GHz ISM band. It indicates the suitability
of the cubic configuration of antenna elements with diverse
CP in spatial quadrature, implying that the proposed MIMO
CA has good channel characteristics to achieve a high data
rate [8].
The 3-D radiation pattern of the proposed CA in the
canonical model is shown in Fig. 14. Diverse radiation patterns
in orthogonal directions help in maintaining a low correlation
between CAEs. The discrepancy between simulated and cal-
culated ECC values is mainly attributed to the measurement
limitations. The error can be reduced at the cost of the
radiation pattern measurement complexity
   2
 4π 
 0 X P R · E θ i E θ∗j Pθ + E φi E φ∗ j Pφ d
ιi j =    (1)
4π ∗ ∗
X P R·E θ i E θi Pθ + E φi E φi Pφ d
 4π  
0
× 0 X P R · E θ j E θ∗j Pθ + E φ j E φ∗ j Pφ d.
A. Polarization and Spatial Diversity
In this section, we demonstrated the polarization and
3-D orientation insensitivity for the proposed 3-D MIMO CA
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Fig. 15. Fabricated prototypes of EA-1 and EA-2.
by developing a downlink communication [EA (Tx ) to CA
(Rx )] at 2.45 and 5.8 GHz. For this, we have chosen EA
(50 × 50 × 1.0 mm3 ) from [36] to be installed outside
the body in free space. We have designed this EA in the
simulator and reproduced its results. Then, |S11 |, AR, and
gain are measured in free space from its fabricated prototype.
The measured results are in close agreement with the simu-
lated one, similar to the results in [36] but not shown here
for brevity. Fig. 15 shows the fabricated prototypes of EA.
Antenna radiating RHCP waves at 2.45 GHz and LHCP at
5.8 GHz is termed as EA-1 whereas, antenna radiating LHCP
waves at 2.45 GHz and RHCP at 5.8 GHz is EA-2. In this
manner, we have characterized EA-1 and EA-2 as standard
transmit antenna (STA) to communicate with the proposed CA
for downlink communication.
In the simulator, we created an environment by placing
EA-2 (STA) at a distance of 500 mm facing CAE-1, where
CA is placed at the center of the canonical arm model and
received power levels (Pr ) are simulated at CAE-i. Downlink
communication is shown using the canonical model instead
of a realistic arm model so that it could be replicated in
measurement easily. EA-2 makes  0◦ (LOS) with CAE-1,
⊥90◦ (NLOS) with CAEs-3, 4 and  180◦ (LOS) with CAE-2
of CA, as shown in Fig. 16(a). The input power (Pt ) of
EA-2 in simulator is fixed as 1 W (30 dBm). Note, since
CAE-1 in LOS with EA-2 have opposite polarization sense to
that of EA-2 at 2.45 and 5.8 GHz, hence, could communicate
efficiently (refer Table III).
Simulated power levels are validated by measuring the
power levels at different angles made by CAEs with respect
to the fixed location of EA-2 to account for possible random
movement in the human arm due to mobility. EA-2 has
been kept 500 mm away in LOS with CAE-1 embedded
in three-layer phantom, as shown in Fig. 16(b). EA-2 port
is connected to Tektronix TSG 4106A RF Signal Generator
(DC—6 GHz), and the CAE-i port is connected to Tektronix
RSA 5115B Real-Time Signal Analyzer (1 Hz–15 GHz). Note,
only i th-port of CAE-i is connected to signal analyzer at a time
while other element ports are matched with 50  load. During
measurement, EA-2 is given 25 dBm input power, as it is the
maximum power generated by the signal generator available.
Table VI shows the simulated and measured power levels. It is
observed, simulated power is in the range of −46 to −56 dB
at 2.45 GHz in orthogonal directions, but at 5.8 GHz power
level is in the range of −29 to −36 dB, comparatively more
than 15 dB higher due to high radiation efficiency at higher
frequency [30]. The measured power decreases by 2–2.5 dB
 KAIM et al.: QUADRILATERAL SPATIAL DIVERSITY CIRCULARLY POLARIZED MIMO CUBIC IMPLANTABLE ANTENNA SYSTEM
Fig. 16. (a) Schematic of downlink communication between CA and EA.
(b) Downlink communication measurement setup in three-layer phantom.
TABLE VI
R ECEIVED P OWER L EVELS W HEN EA-2 IN LOS W ITH CAE-1
due to less input power and change in the environment during
measurement compared to simulation. Note, we have also
carried out the same procedure during simulation and measure-
ment by replacing EA-2 with EA-1 in LOS ( 0◦ ) with CAE-4,
which gives power values similar to the case with EA-2 but not
shown here for brevity. Hence, it can be concluded that the
proposed CA could communicate well in spatial quadrature
with EA irrespective of its polarization sense. This justifies
the suitability of four elements in the nonplanar profile (cubic)
of the proposed implantable CA for biotelemetry applications
where the human body could move freely in any direction
with respect to EA. Note, based on a particular scenario,
a two-face antenna may be sufficient. However, the proposed
cubic MIMO antenna performs much better in 3-D space.
V. C OMMUNICATION L INK
A. Specific Absorption Rate (SAR)
Two standards IEEE C95.1-1999 and IEEE C95.1-2005
restrict SAR averaged over any 1 and 10 g of cube-shaped
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1269
Fig. 17. ASAR distribution due to CA in canonical arm model (scale: W/kg).
tissue to less than 1.6 and 2 W/kg, respectively. IEEE
C95.1-1999 is considered as the prominent [37]; therefore,
we have studied only 1 g average SAR (ASAR) distribution.
Fig. 17 shows 1 g ASAR distribution due to CA in the
canonical arm model when 1 W input power is given to
all the four ports of the CA for data telemetry scenario.
The maximum 1 g ASAR value due to CA (four CAEs) is
1101.7 and 1135.8 W/kg at 2.45 and 5.8 GHz, respectively;
therefore, due to one CAE, ASAR is 276 and 284 W/kg,
respectively. It can be seen that maximum ASAR intensity
is at the central part of the CAEs only, and the remaining
surface of the CA remains inactive, leading to low SAR due
to single CAE. Considering the IEEE C95.1-1999 restrictions,
the maximum power, Pt that could be delivered to the single
element, is 1.45 mW (1.61 dBm) and 1.41 mW (1.49 dBm),
respectively. Therefore, the maximum power that could be
delivered to the MIMO CA is 5.81 mW (7.64 dBm) and
5.63 mW (7.5 dBm), respectively. Since we are restricted
to give only 25 μW (−16 dBm) power (at both 2.45 and
5.8 GHz) to each CAE [38], where whole CA will consume
0.1 mW (−10 dBm) input power; therefore, SAR due to the
proposed MIMO CA is not a major concern.
B. Link Margin
To transfer data from the CA to EA (uplink communication),
we need to specify the range of the data telemetry link between
the CA (Tx ) and EA (Rx ). Therefore, the communication link
budget is calculated through link margin (LM) considering
various losses, using standard Friis equations in [39] and [40]
for scenario when EA is placed in LOS ( 0◦ ) with CAE-1.
The LM shown in Fig. 18 is calculated at 2.45 and 5.8 GHz
using the parameters given inTable VII. Polarization loss (e p )
is calculated using (2) where, υ is the linear AR value of
RX antenna (EA), and α is angle between LOS of TX -RX
antenna [41]. According to free-space reduction in signal
strength, path loss (L f ) is calculated using [39]. Tx and Rx
antenna gains are based on simulated results where Rx antenna
gain is referenced from [36
1 υ2 − 1
+
ep = (cos 2α). (2)
2 υ2 + 1
For effective communication between IMDs and external
base-station, the LM should be better than 0 dB and from
Fig. 18, it is seen that the LOS communication between
CAEs-1, 2 and EA can be established effectively up to more
 1270
Fig. 18. Calculated LM with varying data-rate and transmit power (Pt ) at
different angles between EA and CA.
TABLE VII
L INK B UDGET PARAMETERS
than 10 m and roughly 6.5 m at 2.45 and 5.8 GHz, respectively,
for a data rate of 2 Mb/s and input power of −16 dBm. The
range reduces for 5.8 GHz due to increased path loss at higher
frequencies. For CAEs-3, 4, this range reduces to 10 and 5 m,
respectively, due to the increase in NLOS polarization loss.
Moreover, for the requirement of a high data rate of 200 Mb/s
in indoor biotelemetry applications where 2–5 m can be the
range of interest [42], CAEs-1, 2 could communicate up to
7.5 and 2.5 m at 2.45 and 5.8 GHz, respectively, with an
input power of −4 dBm (0.4 mW) [7], and for CAEs-3, 4 this
range reduces to 3.5 and 2 m, respectively.
Hence, the proposed CA could transmit a data rate of
–2 Mb/s (sufficient in free space) [42] with input power
−16 dBm up to at least 10 and 5 m in spatial quadrature at
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2.45 and 5.8 GHz, respectively. But to transmit the highest data
rate of 200 Mb/s up to 10 m in spatial quadrature (long range
of interest for indoor applications), the proposed CA confirms
its suitability with total input power ≤1.61 and 1.49 dBm
to each CAE at 2.45 and 5.8 GHz, respectively, conforming
to SAR limit. Thus, the proposed CA system fulfills the
requirement of multiple biotelemetry applications in both free
space and an indoor environment where data rate varies from
low to high.
VI. C ONCLUSION
In this article, a novel implantable 3-D MIMO CA is
designed for biotelemetry applications, which allows polariza-
tion and 3-D orientation insensitivity of implantable antennas.
It aims to solve the menace of polarization mismatching
in a complex environment due to human body mobility in
random directions. Table I lists the comparison of the cubic
MIMO with planar MIMO antennas found in the literature.
Compared to planar versions, the cubic MIMO antenna system
provides robust performance in orthogonal space in terms
of the communication link, diverse CP, impedance matching,
large impedance, and AR bandwidths, high gain and radiation
efficiency, and tight device packaging with zirconia (ceramic).
The measured results of the fabricated prototype match with
simulated one due to close similarity in simulation and mea-
surement scenario. The polarization and orthogonal spatial
diversity of the proposed CA are validated by developing a
stable communication link at different angles (LOS/NLOS)
between CA and EA of diverse polarization. Furthermore, high
transmit power due to low SAR and capability to transmit high
data with diverse polarization in dual-frequency ISM bands
in orthogonal space over a reasonably long distance proves
stronghold of the proposed MIMO CA.
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Vikrant Kaim (Graduate Student Member, IEEE)
was born in New Delhi, India, in 1990. He received
the B.Tech. degree in electronics and communi-
cation engineering from the Bharati Vidyapeeth’s
College of Engineering, New Delhi, in 2014, and
the M.Tech. degree in microwave electronics from
the Department of Electronic Science, University of
Delhi South Campus, New Delhi, in 2016. He is
currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in computational
biology and bioinformatics with Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi.
His research interests include electromagnetic theory, implantable anten-
nas and devices, wearable antennas, printed antennas, flexible antennas,
multi-input multi-output (MIMO) antennas, wireless power transfer, and
capsule endoscopy.
Mr. Kaim has been a recipient of the CSIR Senior Research Fellowship
since 2019.
 1272 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 69, NO. 3, MARCH 2021
Binod Kumar Kanaujia (Senior Member, IEEE)
received the B.Tech. degree in electronics engi-
neering from KNIT Sultanpur, Sultanpur, India,
in 1994, and the M.Tech. and Ph.D. degrees from the
Department of Electronics Engineering, IIT (BHU)
Varanasi, Varanasi, India, in 1998 and 2004,
respectively.
He held the positions of a Lecturer from 1996 to
2005, the Reader from 2005 to 2008, and the Head
of the Department of Electronics and Communica-
tion Engineering, M. J. P. Rohilkhand University,
Bareilly, India. Prior to his career in academics, he was an Executive Engineer
with the R&D Division, M/s UPTRON India Ltd, Lucknow, India. He has
been a Professor with the Department of Electronics and Communication
Engineering, Ambedkar Institute of Advanced Communication Technologies
& Research, New Delhi, since 2011, where he was an Associate Professor
from 2008 to 2011. He has been a Professor with the School of Computational
and Integrative Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, since 2016.
He has been credited to publish more than 325 research articles with more
than 2575 citations with H-index of 22 in several peer-reviewed journals and
conferences. He had supervised 50 M.Tech. and 26 Ph.D. research scholars in
the field of microwave engineering. He has a keen research interest in design
and modeling of microstrip antenna, dielectric resonator antenna, left-handed
metamaterial microstrip antenna, shorted microstrip antenna, ultra-wideband
antennas, and reconfigurable and circular polarized antennas for wireless
communication.
Dr. Kanaujia is a member of several academic and professional bodies,
i.e., Institution of Engineers (India), Indian Society for Technical Education,
and The Institute of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers of India.
He has been awarded the Junior Research Fellowship by UGC Delhi during
2001–2002 for his outstanding work in the electronics field. He is a reviewer
for several journals of international repute, i.e., the IET Microwaves, Anten-
nas & Propagation, IEEE A NTENNAS AND W IRELESS P ROPAGATION L ET-
TERS , Wireless Personal Communications, Journal of Electromagnetic Wave
and Application, Indian Journal of Radio and Space Physics, IETE Technical
Review, International Journal of Electronics, International Journal of Engi-
neering Science, IEEE T RANSACTIONS ON A NTENNAS AND P ROPAGATION,
Authorized licensed use limited to: JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA UNIVERSITY- NEW DELHI. Downloaded on September 19,2022 at 11:23:47 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
AEU-International Journal of Electronics and Communication, and Interna-
tional Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies. He had successfully
executed 08 research projects sponsored by several agencies of Government
of India, i.e., DRDO, DST, AICTE, and ISRO. He is also an Associate
Editor of the AEU-International Journal of Electronics and Communication
of publisher Elsevier and the IETE Technical Review of publisher Taylor and
Francis.
Karumudi Rambabu (Member, IEEE) received the
Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineer-
ing from the University of Victoria, Victoria, BC,
Canada, in 2005.
He was a Research Member of the Institute for
Infocomm Research, Singapore, from 2005 to 2007.
Since 2007, he has been an Assistant Professor
with the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB,
Canada, where he is currently a Professor. He is
currently involved in industrial and biomedical imag-
ing, vital sign monitoring, and biopsy needle guiding using ultra-wideband
(UWB) radar systems. His current research interests include the design and
development of UWB technology, and components and radar systems for
various applications.
Dr. Rambabu was a recipient of the Andy Farquharson Award for excellence
in graduate student teaching from the University of Victoria in 2003 and the
Governor Generals Gold Medal for the Ph.D. research in 2005. He serves as
an Associate Editor for the IET Microwaves, Antennas & Propagation.