Antennas and Propagation for In-Mouth Tongue-Controlled Devices in Wireless Body Area Networks

Tetraplegic patients have to depend upon someone else for moving the wheelchair or typing on a computer. One of the ways to make them independent is by using tongue-controlled in-mouth wireless devices. This letter presents antennas and propagation for such devices in 2.45-GHz ISM band. A monopole and a loop antenna suitable in size and performance is presented for such devices. The propagation link between the in-mouth antenna and an external antenna is measured by mimicking the use-case scenarios of such devices by placing an external antenna on a laptop and on a chair. The link loss is found to be in the range of 55-75 dB depending upon the antenna type and the scenario. Using these values of the link loss, a reliable link can be established between the in-mouth device and the external device either mounted on a wheelchair or a computer.