Enhancing Wireless Transmission from Implanted Devices with an Electromagnetic Grating

Integrating wireless technologies with implanted devices could enable important capabilities for medicine. However, existing wireless systems suffer from low efficiency of energy transmission from the human body owing to the mismatch between the dielectric properties of the body and that of freespace. We present an approach to enhance wireless transmission from the body by modifying the air-tissue interface with an electromagnetic grating. The grating enables the radiation of wave components otherwise trapped by total internal reflection into the far-field and increases the total power radiated into free-space space. We show in simulations that the grating can enhance transmission by a factor of 3 and propose methods for implementing such a device in a clinical setting.