A miniaturized and bandwidth-enhanced implantable antenna is designed for wireless biotelemetry in the medical implantable communications service (MICS) frequency band of 402-405MHz. To reduce the antenna size and enhance the available bandwidth with regard to the reflection coefficients, a meandered planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) structure is adopted on a dielectric/ferrite substrate which is an artificial magneto-dielectric material. The potential of the proposed antenna for the intended applications is verified through prototype fabrication and measurement with a 2/3 human muscle phantom. Good agreement is observed between the simulation and measurement in terms of resonant characteristics and gain radiation patterns; the bandwidth is enhanced in comparison with that of the ferrite-removed antenna, and antenna gain of -27.7dB is obtained in the measurement. Allowances are made for probable fabrication inaccuracies and practical operating environments. An analysis of 1-g SAR distribution is conducted to confirm compliance with the specific absorption rate limitation (1.6W/kg) of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

Recently, wearable wireless devices or terminals have become hot a topic not only in research but also in business. Implantable wireless devices can temporarily be utilized to monitor a patient's condition in an emergency situation or to identify people in highly secured places. Unlike conventional wireless devices, wearable or implantable devices are used on or in the human body. In this sense, body-centric wireless communications (BCWCs) have become a very active area of research. Radio-frequency or microwave medical devices used for cancer treatment systems and surgical operation have completely different functions, but they are used on or in the human body. In terms of research techniques, such medical devices have a lot of similarities to BCWCs. The antennas to be used in the vicinity of the human body should be safe, small and robust. Also, their interaction with the human body should be well considered. This review paper describes some of the wearable antennas as well as implantable antennas that have been studied in our laboratory.