Human Phantom Development for Mouth pH Monitoring

Undergraduate #459
Discipline: Technology and Engineering
Subcategory: Electrical Engineering
Session: 1
Room: Exhibit Hall A

Nikkoiya Cromwell - University of South Florida
Co-Author(s): Saikat Mondal, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI

The goal of this research is to develop a pH sensor that could effectively detect the acidic/alkaline levels present within the oral cavity in order to increase the effectiveness of dental care. To test the sensor, a human head phantom is required, which will mimic the physical, chemical, and electrical properties of the tissues, thus removing the need of using living test subjects. To develop our model, it is required to mix various materials at certain proportion to exhibit the properties of the human tissue. The sensor has integrated antenna with it, which enables communication with the outside base station. The sensor sends the pH information wirelessly using the antenna. However, as the antenna would be working from inside the mouth cavity, the loading on antenna would be different. Hence, to properly design the antenna, a simulated medium is required. The phantom has primarily two objectives: 1) to provide a test bed for different pH solutions, and 2) to provide similar dielectric properties of the human tissue. This work will allow us to attain a test bed for measuring pH levels within mouth oral cavity. We also would test the relative permittivity and electrical conductivity within the model and identify possible material variations that would allow the antenna to operate properly to improve the effectiveness of our sensor.

Funder Acknowledgement(s): Axia Institute, Midland, MI USA

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Premjeet Chahal, chahal@egr.msu.edu

Role: The part of this research I did was creating samples with various materials like sodium chloride, glucose, corn flour etc. in order to construct a human head phantom. Afterwards, I test the samples for dielectric properties such as relative permittivity and electrical conductivity in order to closely replicate a human tissue.