Development of Microwave Antenna for Bone Health Diagnosis Application

The following research proposes a compact ultra-wideband (UWB) microwave patch antenna for bone health diagnosis using microwave sensing technology. The geometrical structure of the antenna has been optimised by iterative adjustments to the radiating patch and ground plane conductor. The proposed antenna offers a broad operational bandwidth range from 2.75 GHz to 18 GHz with S11 well below -10 dB. Rogers RT5870 substrate (loss tangent of 0.0012 and dielectric constant of 2.33) has been used with a dimension of 27 mm x 22 mm for suitable use to the wearable devices. The far field analysis shows a near omnidirectional persistent radiation pattern. A multilayer phantom (Skin layer, fat layer, muscle layer, bone layer) measurement system is adjusted employing a realistic homogeneous for both phantoms and antenna sensing proximity with which the variation of S11 for fractured bone is observed. The surface current distribution observed was 57.4 A/m with high gain of 5.01 dBi in transient broadband simulation. The examination of bone phantom backscattering signals suggests that the recommended microwave antenna can be a useful choice for healtcare devices focusing to bone health diagnosis.