Conformal Circular Loop Antenna for Leadless Cardiac Transcatheter Pacing System

Leadless cardiac pacemakers (LCP) are non-invasive, life-saving medical implants used to treat patients with slow heartbeats. The advancements in biomedical engineering led to the development of ultra-compact implantable antennas that can be integrated with LCPs for remote monitoring of patients via external monitoring devices. A conformal circular loop antenna operating at medical implants communication services (401–406 MHz), wireless medical telemetry services (1.4 GHz), and industrial, scientific, and medical frequency bands (0.433, 0.915, and 2.45 GHz) for leadless cardiac transcatheter pacing (TCP) system is presented in this paper. The proposed antenna, with dimensions of 10 mm x 10 mm x 0.085 mm, is the thinnest antenna (0.085 mm) designed on a polyimide substrate (εr = 3.5) and mounted on the inner wall (conformal) of the TCP system, effectively using the internal space and covers the essential frequency bands allocated for biotelemetry. Also, the antenna is modeled using a multi-layer (skin, fat, and muscle) phantom with properties similar to the human heart. The performance of the antenna is validated by mounting electronic components and measuring a variety of performance metrics, particularly far-field and specific absorption rates