Implantable Wireless Transmission Rectenna System for Biomedical Wireless Applications

We introduce a novel RF to DC wireless power transmission implantable rectenna system at Industrial, Scientific and Medical bands (ISM 902.8-928 MHz). An embedded circular antenna receives the externally emitted energy from a patch antenna and converts it to DC power by a rectifying circuit. The system is associated with a metallic reflector which is placed behind the human body enhancing the reception. The rectifying circuit efficiency and the total system's efficiency are determined for different external antenna to human body distances and various embedded depths with or without the reflector. Experimental results, obtained in a realistic environment, validate the predicted performance and provide an initial evaluation of the transmission link. Porcine tissue and bovine tissue are both used during the measurements and results are compared against simulations.