Agilent 8722ES vector network analyzer. Figures 2 and 3 show the simulated and measured return loss characteristics. The measured return loss of the proposed antenna covers the frequency band 2.87-40 GHz with a 1:13.9 ratio for return loss <À10 dB. Figure 4 shows the simulated radiation patterns at sampling frequencies of 3, 6, and 10 GHz. The radiation patterns reveal that the antenna has omnidirectional radiation characteristic. Figure 5 shows the simulated peak gains of the proposed antenna. CONCLUSIONSA novel key-shaped CPW-fed monopole UWB antenna is proposed. The CPW-fed monopole antenna provides an extremely wide frequency range in compact and in simple structure. The measured results for the proposed antenna show the frequency band of 2.87-40 GHz with a 1:13.9 ratio, which is covered for return loss <À10 dB. The proposed antenna is enough for UWB communication systems. (PCM), and slots (PCS) with VSWR < 2 bandwidth mainly from 1.12 to 10.1 GHz are previously designed, simulated, constructed, and measured as antenna elements for those arrays. For comparison, prototypes for two-element PCM and PCS MIMO arrays have been constructed and measured. The choice should be made according to the directivity required by the final application and portable device size. For the worst signal interference case, the operational bandwidth ranges from 1.5 to 9.9 GHz and from 1.7 to 11.4 GHz for the PCM and the PCS MIMO arrays, respectively. VSWR is basically below two, average capacity loss 0.32 bps/Hz with respect to the ideal uncorrelated (2,2) case and envelope correlation lower than 20 dB. UWB PORTABLE PRINTED MONOPOLE ARRAY DESIGN FOR MIMO COMMUNICATIONS

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Central venous catheters (CVC) are commonly used in clinical practice to improve a patient's quality of life. Unfortunately, there is an intrinsic risk of acquiring an infection related to microbial biofilm formation inside the catheter lumen. It has been estimated that 80 % of all human bacterial infections are biofilm-associated. Additionally, 50 % of all nosocomial infections are associated with indwelling devices. Bloodstream infections account for 30-40 % of all cases of severe sepsis and septic shock, and are major causes of morbidity and mortality. Diagnosis of bloodstream infections must be performed promptly so that adequate antimicrobial therapy can be started and patient outcome improved. An ideal diagnostic technology would identify the infecting organism(s) in a timely manner, so that appropriate pathogen-driven therapy could begin promptly. Unfortunately, despite the essential information it provides, blood culture, the gold standard, largely fails in this purpose because time is lost waiting for bacterial or fungal growth. This work presents a new design of a venous access port that allows the monitoring of the inner reservoir surface by means of an impedimetric biosensor. An ad-hoc electronic system was designed to manage the sensor and to allow communication with the external receiver. Historic data recorded and stored in the device was used as the reference value for the detection of bacterial biofilm. The RF communication system sends an alarm signal to the external receiver when a microbial colonization of the port occurs. The successful in vitro analysis of the biosensor, the electronics and the antenna of the new indwelling device prototype are shown. The experimental conditions were selected in each case as the closest to the clinical working conditions for the smart central venous catheter (SCVC) testing. The results of this work allow a new generation of this kind of device that could potentially provide more efficient treatments for catheter-related infections.