Body centric antennas for wireless cardiac monitoring

Abstract

The overwhelming prevalence of cardiac related deaths is the motivation behind this thesis to develop body centric antennas for wireless cardiac monitoring. Cardiac monitoring can diagnose a number of conditions including: arrhythmia, ischemia, premature atrial complexes, abnormal sinus rhythms, heart blocks, atrial fibrillation, and more. A body centric antenna operating within the ISM band (2.4-2.48GHz) has been designed, simulated, and tested. The simulation and testing indicate low mutual coupling between antennas of varying distances has been achieved. In addition, the simulation and testing indicate that a thin layer of skin over the test subject further reduces mutual coupling.