A Novel Dual-Band MIMO-Enabled Biotelemetric Endovascular Stent IoMT System

Abstract

Recent advancements in the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) have necessitated the need of smart biomedical devices. This paper presents a novel endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) stent system integrated with a flexible antenna for seamless data telemetry and post-EVAR surveillance with high data rates. Employing multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology, the antenna consists of four dipoles with each element designed and optimized to offer dual band resonance at the two industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) bands, i.e., 915 and 2450 MHz. To validate the performance of MIMO EVAR stent antenna, simulations were conducted both in the homogeneous tissue and realistic human model. Experimental validations were performed in a saline-filled American Society for Testing and Materials phantom and minced pork. The MIMO stent antenna exhibits several key features including better impedance matching characteristics, high impedance bandwidth of 380 MHz (720–1100 MHz) and 440 MHz (2240–2680 MHz), and excellent far-field radiation performance with high gain values of -11.5 and -9.8 at 915 and 2450 MHz, respectively. Remarkably, the proposed IoMT-enabled smart medical device can support a high data rate of 12 Mbps with the communication range up to 11 m at 915 MHz and 13 m at 2450 MHz, achieved in a real-time data telemetry experiment. Moreover, the MIMO channel parameters were examined to ensure seamless communication and independence between MIMO elements. Specific absorption rate analysis confirmed the safety of the proposed MIMO antenna system. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to develop MIMO-based EVAR stent system with significant features, thereby making it a viable solution for advanced IoMT-enabled healthcare systems.