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Advanced antenna, microwave and wireless sensing technology for energy efficient implantable and wearable systems in body area networks

Tampere University

Wireless technology is commonplace in our daily life and it is becoming equally diffused in the fields of medicine and healthcare. The research in this project produces novel, robust and multifunctional wireless body-centric antennas and sensing systems capable of monitoring physiological parameters through body-worn and implanted devices.

The use of wireless powering and harvesting of energy from the ambient radio signals will enable a high degree of energy autonomy and battery-free implants. Anatomically accurate electromagnetic models of the human body and textile electronics are essential for achieving performance-optimised and seamlessly cloth-integrated devices.

Goal

Wireless technology is revolutionizing the fields of healthcare and medicine and bringing forth the concept of wireless health. The research in this project contributes to this global endeavour by providing new hardware solutions that advance the state of the art in the field in terms of robustness and versatility of the wireless performance, which are some of the major bottlenecks for the deployment of wireless health technology.

The key research themes include methods for device optimisation considering variability in the operating environment (e.g. tissue properties, bending or stretching of antennas), materials and methods for seamlessly cloth-integrated textile antennas and microwave components, wireless powering and harvesting of energy from the ambient radio signals, as well as multifunctional implantable and wearable antennas for compact antenna-sensor systems. This novel wireless infrastructure will benefit countless applications in wellness, healthcare, and medicine.

Funding source

Academy of Finland

Contact persons

Toni Björninen

Academy Research Fellow

toni.bjorninen [at] tut.fi

+358 40 849 0096